Townsquare Capital LLC Acquires 21,071 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 406,788 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 21,071 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $40,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Crux Wealth Advisors bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $1,320,000. Qtron Investments LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Qtron Investments LLC now owns 35,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,497,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189 shares in the last quarter. Ceeto Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Ceeto Capital Group LLC now owns 24,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Petros Family Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. Finally, Monetary Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,374,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, Director Inge G. Thulin acquired 2,833 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $88.25 per share, with a total value of $250,012.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $258,837.25. This represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $209,562.36. Following the sale, the insider now 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. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced 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. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $79.14 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $88.43 and a 200 day moving average of $97.39. The stock has a market cap of $199.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.76, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.40. 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. has a 52-week low of $75.96 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its 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). 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current 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 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.