Dodge & Cox Decreases Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Dodge & Cox cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 157,351 shares of the company’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. Dodge & Cox’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $15,653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $105,000. M Holdings Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. M Holdings Securities Inc. now owns 21,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 6,550 shares during the last quarter. AGP Franklin LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $327,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.6% during the 4th quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 26,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,655,000 after purchasing an additional 14,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 387,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,538,000 after purchasing an additional 28,910 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $88.25 per share, for a total transaction of $250,012.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $258,837.25. This trade represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 7,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $628,864.60. This represents a 24.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $78.28 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average of $88.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.91. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.96 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $197.75 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MRK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.