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

Renaissance Investment Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,755 shares of the company’s stock after selling 140 shares during the period. Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 199,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,739,000 after buying an additional 7,641 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 788.1% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 176,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,894,000 after purchasing an additional 156,935 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 112,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,873,000 after purchasing an additional 8,269 shares during the period. Kowal Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 9,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 521,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,581,000 after acquiring an additional 34,574 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MRK. Wolfe Research began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $98.00 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $100.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.72. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.48 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 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.