370 Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Purchased by Marshall Investment Management LLC

Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,606,360,000 after buying an additional 1,536,474 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,696,060,000 after buying an additional 2,134,296 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,135,785,000 after buying an additional 514,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 17,756,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,016,374,000 after buying an additional 309,656 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set 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 downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reduced their target price 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. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $89.40 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $95.46 and a 200 day moving average of $104.16. The stock has a market cap of $226.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $81.04 and a 12 month high of $134.63. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.13). Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The firm had revenue of $15.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.03 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $88.25 per share, with a total value of $250,012.25. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $258,837.25. This represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $209,562.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $628,864.60. This represents a 24.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.