Hilltop Holdings Inc. Raises Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,867 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,656 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,673,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $20,722,000. Hudson Value Partners LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 44,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,850,000 after buying an additional 1,794 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 424,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,322,000 after acquiring an additional 11,117 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 87,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,553,000 after acquiring an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,165,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,018,000 after acquiring an additional 29,674 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MRK. Barclays raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK traded down $1.60 on Friday, hitting $129.49. The stock had a trading volume of 5,983,846 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,628,031. The company’s 50-day moving average is $128.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. The stock has a market cap of $327.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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.