Natixis Advisors L.P. Purchases 30,481 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,207,024 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,481 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $131,588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the third quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. 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 the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was 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 approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MRK. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.3 %

MRK traded up $0.39 during trading on Thursday, hitting $129.19. 2,911,319 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,208,257. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $327.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $126.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.