Motive Wealth Advisors Increases Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Motive Wealth Advisors raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,064 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Motive Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,606,360,000 after buying an additional 1,536,474 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after buying an additional 3,327,404 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,696,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,296 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,135,785,000 after purchasing an additional 514,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 17,756,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,016,374,000 after purchasing an additional 309,656 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MRK. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $95.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $241.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $99.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.02. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.