MBE Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

MBE Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,192 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the quarter. MBE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,363,385,000 after purchasing an additional 39,289,404 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $2,736,293,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,914 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,671.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,099,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,400,000 after purchasing an additional 4,915,334 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 184.5% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,254,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $837,144,000 after purchasing an additional 4,705,004 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $0.60 on Thursday, reaching $126.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,158,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,461,818. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The company has a market cap of $319.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 905.36, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2,200.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.64.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.