SlateStone Wealth LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

SlateStone Wealth LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 74,558 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,228 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 1.1% of SlateStone Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,128,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% during the third quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.11 on Tuesday, hitting $127.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,556,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,248,146. The company has a market capitalization of $321.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 906.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $126.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.35.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. TD Cowen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.25.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.