6,880 Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Bought by HTLF Bank

HTLF Bank bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 6,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $750,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Echo45 Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $218,000. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 19,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,137,000 after acquiring an additional 4,989 shares during the period. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $229,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 60.1% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 33,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,640,000 after acquiring an additional 12,534 shares during the period. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,194,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 target price (up previously from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $125.78 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.00. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $318.60 billion, a PE ratio of 898.43, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 2,200.00%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.