Renaissance Investment Group LLC Sells 140 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Renaissance Investment Group LLC lessened its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,755 shares of the company’s stock after selling 140 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 36,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,606,000 after acquiring an additional 3,916 shares during the last quarter. Stillwater Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Stillwater Capital Advisors LLC now owns 181,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659 shares in the last quarter. Clarius Group LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 24,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,391,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 2,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the period. Finally, Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 49.0% in the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,126,000 after buying an additional 3,691 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price target (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $98.00 on Monday. 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. The firm has a market cap of $247.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.72.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.