Fiduciary Family Office LLC Takes $1.69 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Key Points

• Fiduciary Family Office LLC invested approximately $1.69 million in Merck & Co., purchasing 18,835 shares of the stock during the first quarter.
• Merck reported a quarterly EPS of $2.13, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.03, with a revenue of $15.81 billion for the same period.
• The company declared a $0.81 quarterly dividend, yielding 4.0%, with an upcoming payment date of October 7th for investors recorded by September 15th.

Fiduciary Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,835 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,691,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE:MRK traded down $0.60 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $80.09. 8,209,944 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,245,771. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $120.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $80.82 and a 200 day moving average of $83.75. The stock has a market cap of $200.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.92%.

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.