West Coast Financial LLC Sells 933 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

West Coast Financial LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,124 shares of the company’s stock after selling 933 shares during the period. West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.5% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 74,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,441,000 after purchasing an additional 5,090 shares during the last quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 65.5% during the 4th quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 2,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Thornton Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC now owns 5,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on MRK. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.6 %

MRK stock opened at $100.72 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $254.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. 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%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.