Capital Advantage Inc. Acquires New Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Capital Advantage Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $948,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BOKF NA raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. BOKF NA now owns 342,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,998,000 after buying an additional 41,452 shares during the last quarter. Bosun Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Bosun Asset Management LLC now owns 2,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 215,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,399,000 after buying an additional 29,549 shares during the last quarter. Brooks Moore & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Brooks Moore & Associates Inc. now owns 47,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,751,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $643,707.28. This trade represents a 35.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Inge G. Thulin acquired 2,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was acquired 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $258,837.25. This represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MRK. StockNews.com lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America cut their price objective 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. TD Securities lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.13.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $82.85 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.93 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $86.40 and a 200-day moving average of $93.93. The firm has a market cap of $208.93 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. 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 earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.