Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Buys 1,556 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1,556.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,656 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CGN Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 26,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,683,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 3,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. TI Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. TI Trust Inc. now owns 19,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,973,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 39,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,978,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, Peterson Wealth Services grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 21,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,137,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

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

In other news, Director Inge G. Thulin acquired 2,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $88.25 per share, with a total value of $250,012.25. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $258,837.25. The trade was a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $209,562.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $628,864.60. This represents a 24.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities downgraded 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 note on Monday, February 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. TD Cowen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.12.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MRK opened at $89.18 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $91.92 and its 200 day moving average is $100.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $81.04 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $225.27 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.35.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.14%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.