Heartland Bank & Trust Co Sells 653 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,205 shares of the company’s stock after selling 653 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth $325,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 312,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,657,000 after acquiring an additional 9,174 shares during the last quarter. Granite FO LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth about $292,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 53,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,644,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth approximately $3,330,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK stock opened at $97.99 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $99.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.56. The company has a market capitalization of $247.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.