Red Spruce Capital LLC Grows Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Red Spruce Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 42,739 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,299 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.9% of Red Spruce Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Red Spruce Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 51,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the period. Certified Advisory Corp raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 6,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $761,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 26,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,330,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 32.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,584,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,922,000 after acquiring an additional 634,194 shares during the period. Finally, Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the second quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley cut 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 report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE MRK opened at $96.18 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $99.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $243.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 prior year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. 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. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio 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.