Godsey & Gibb Inc. Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Godsey & Gibb Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 186,004 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,571 shares during the period. Godsey & Gibb Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $18,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,670,000 after buying an additional 2,025 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 15,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,590,000 after acquiring an additional 4,633 shares in the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 9,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 363,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,859 shares during the period. Finally, Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $327,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Leerink Partners dropped 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 research note on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on 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 lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $100.20 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $253.47 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50 day moving average is $100.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.19.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.