Cardinal Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cardinal Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 266,606 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,754 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $23,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Peterson Wealth Services lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 21,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,137,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 4,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 14,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,473,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weinberger Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Weinberger Asset Management Inc now owns 8,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $880,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:MRK opened at $79.30 on Tuesday. 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 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $199.12 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 47.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MRK. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, TD Securities lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.19.

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.