Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Acquires 22,382 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 32.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 92,360 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,382 shares during the quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $9,188,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $32,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $36,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK opened at $100.94 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $255.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $100.16 and a 200-day moving average of $110.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.