Sippican Capital Advisors Buys 750 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sippican Capital Advisors increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 21,418 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 1.6% of Sippican Capital Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Sippican Capital Advisors’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,131,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,049,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,759,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,836,505 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 1,902,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,262,000 after purchasing an additional 35,525 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,211,000 after buying an additional 8,985 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,135,785,000 after buying an additional 514,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,837,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,649,000 after buying an additional 62,047 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $98.23 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.13. The stock has a market cap of $248.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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 report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Daiwa America cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.67.

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.