Motco Acquires 3,338 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Key Points

• Motco increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% in Q1, holding a total of 138,577 shares valued at approximately $12.4 million, making it Merck's 16th largest position in Motco's portfolio.
• Merck reported a quarterly earnings per share of $2.22, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.16, despite a 1.6% decrease in revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.81, reflecting an annualized dividend of $3.24 and a yield of 3.82% for shareholders of record.

Motco boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 138,577 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,338 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.3% of Motco's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Motco's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $12,439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company's stock worth $474,543,000 after buying an additional 5,060,959 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after purchasing an additional 4,932,647 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,742 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company's stock worth $1,151,642,000 after purchasing an additional 4,480,007 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,991.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,332,446 shares of the company's stock valued at $388,880,000 after buying an additional 4,289,516 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of MRK traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $82.65. 5,495,397 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,832,554. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $120.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $207.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.98.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.