Resonant Capital Advisors LLC Sells 397 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Resonant Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,955 shares of the company’s stock after selling 397 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $898,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,742 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,231,000 after acquiring an additional 2,610,800 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,696,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,296 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of MRK opened at $98.80 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $249.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.48 and a 1 year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.