Ames National Corp Invests $969,000 in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Ames National Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 9,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $77.92 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $82.80 and its 200 day moving average is $91.89. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $195.66 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows 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 leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Securities cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.19.

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

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.