Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Advisor OS LLC

Advisor OS LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 29.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 32,265 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,272 shares during the quarter. Advisor OS LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. State Street Corp grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,606,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,474 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after buying an additional 3,327,404 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,696,060,000 after buying an additional 2,134,296 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,213,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,408,763,000 after acquiring an additional 5,550,824 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,135,785,000 after acquiring an additional 514,060 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 news, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $209,562.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,085 shares in the company, valued at $628,864.60. The trade was a 24.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $88.25 per share, for a total transaction of $250,012.25. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $258,837.25. The trade was a 2,833.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $91.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $231.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $81.04 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.78. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $15.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.03 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.54%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 48.14%.

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.