Cornerstone Advisory LLC Has $1.21 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cornerstone Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,441 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisory LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. American Assets Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $398,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 187,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,625,000 after buying an additional 55,795 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,756,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,710,000 after buying an additional 240,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RiverFront Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 13,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after buying an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $84.82 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.20. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $128.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted 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 company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 43.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

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 report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of 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 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.69.

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.