YANKCOM Partnership Purchases New Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRKFree Report) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,359,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 82,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,206,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the period. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,657,000 after buying an additional 5,134 shares during the period. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 4,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. Inman Jager Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,369,000. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 64.3% in the 4th quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 12,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,269,000 after purchasing an additional 4,991 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued 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 $120.33.

View Our Latest Analysis on Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $89.52 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $226.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.38. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.12. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.33 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRKGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.13). Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $15.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.03 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MRK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRKFree Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Receive News & Ratings for Merck & Co. Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Merck & Co. Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.