MCIA Inc Has $2.76 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

MCIA Inc boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) by 15.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,894 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,251 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.3% of MCIA Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. MCIA Inc’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 224,134,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,302,459,000 after acquiring an additional 3,081,402 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,079,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,468,037,000 after acquiring an additional 1,077,042 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,949,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,730,513,000 after acquiring an additional 214,082 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 53.8% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 22,349,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,037,608,000 after acquiring an additional 7,816,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,026,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,552,347,000 after acquiring an additional 2,111,477 shares in the last quarter. 72.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $127.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $110.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 20th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.35.

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

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Sanat Chattopadhyay sold 83,994 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.29, for a total transaction of $9,431,686.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,312,555. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Sanat Chattopadhyay sold 83,994 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.29, for a total transaction of $9,431,686.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,312,555. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.22, for a total transaction of $541,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,134.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,245 shares of company stock valued at $11,168,256 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $104.10 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $78.63 and a 12 month high of $115.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.25. The company has a market cap of $264.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.34.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.47% and a net margin of 24.49%. The business had revenue of $13.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 51.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

(Get Rating)

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.