Traynor Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 104.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,976 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.8% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 93,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,550,000 after buying an additional 23,589 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 1,050,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,357,000 after acquiring an additional 35,627 shares during the last quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at about $241,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.3% during the second quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Hsbc Global Res raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $96.57 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $244.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.