Wilkins Miller Wealth Management LLC Invests $375,000 in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Wilkins Miller Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $375,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $365,000. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 39,989 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,978,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company's stock worth $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,710 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,102 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,199,000 after buying an additional 821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 1,051,976 shares of the company's stock worth $103,483,000 after acquiring an additional 275,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MRK. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $109.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Thursday, reaching $76.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,006,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,547,562. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business's 50-day moving average price is $80.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.95. The firm has a market cap of $191.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is presently 47.16%.

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.