Prudent Man Advisors LLC Has $1.40 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,065 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,182 shares during the period. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. now owns 13,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,571,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Source Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Source Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,777,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 26,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,683,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Round Rock Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Round Rock Advisors LLC now owns 9,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,058,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Securities cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. TD Cowen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $88.25 per share, for a total transaction of $250,012.25. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $258,837.25. This trade represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the company’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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $92.23 on Friday. 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 moving average of $94.63 and a 200 day moving average of $103.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $15.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

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 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 3.51%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 48.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.