Violich Capital Management Inc. Increases Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Violich Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 91,229 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 1.3% of Violich Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Violich Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $10,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 68,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,990,000 after acquiring an additional 4,694 shares in the last quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 571,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,390,000 after buying an additional 11,093 shares during the last quarter. Single Point Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at about $201,000. City Holding Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 18,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,378,000 after buying an additional 1,463 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Hoagland & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at about $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $108.70 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $275.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.78, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $114.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.34.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned ($2.06) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 342.22%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.