Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Brevan Howard Capital Management LP

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 633.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,648 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 71,381 shares during the quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 1,902,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,262,000 after acquiring an additional 35,525 shares in the last quarter. Napatree Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $2,080,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,399,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,761,000 after buying an additional 422,382 shares during the period. Finally, Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 56,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,601,000 after acquiring an additional 8,461 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Inge G. Thulin acquired 2,833 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $88.25 per share, with a total value of $250,012.25. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at $258,837.25. The trade was a 2,833.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $209,562.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,085 shares in the company, valued at $628,864.60. This represents a 24.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.13.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $83.14 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $209.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.93 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.