Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 106.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,388 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,809 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MRK shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.57.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.58 on Monday, hitting $99.72. The stock had a trading volume of 9,069,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,112,774. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $100.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.68. The stock has a market cap of $252.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. 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. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.