Sendero Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sendero Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,086 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. Sendero Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $1,207,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,116,000 after buying an additional 1,641 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. True Vision MN LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at approximately $436,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 764,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,626,000 after acquiring an additional 18,856 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $100.20 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $100.13 and a 200-day moving average of $110.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $253.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.92%.

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.