Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC Purchases 3,282 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 20.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,376 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,282 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4%

MRK stock opened at $80.73 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $120.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $80.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company has a market capitalization of $201.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 49.92%.

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.