Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Position Lifted by Banco de Sabadell S.A

Banco de Sabadell S.A boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,218 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the quarter. Banco de Sabadell S.A’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Mosley Wealth Management grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $269,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $114,909,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 11,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,107,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $209,562.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $628,864.60. This trade represents a 24.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Inge G. Thulin bought 2,833 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine 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 target price of $117.12.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $93.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $236.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $93.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.07. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $81.04 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio 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.