Pineridge Advisors LLC Buys 730 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 517.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 871 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $87,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.2% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 802,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,205,000 after acquiring an additional 427,831 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at approximately $397,000. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.1% in the third quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 9,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,083,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the third quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 776,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,227,000 after purchasing an additional 19,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the third quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,503,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, Director Inge G. Thulin acquired 2,833 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $88.25 per share, for a total transaction of $250,012.25. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $258,837.25. This trade represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $209,562.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $628,864.60. This trade represents a 24.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.9 %

MRK opened at $86.52 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $98.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.34. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $86.27 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $15.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 48.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Securities cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday. TD Cowen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.94.

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.