Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC

Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,427 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,355,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $721,782,000 after purchasing an additional 518,270 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $319,000. Sterneck Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $220,000. InvesTrust acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $891,000. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 519,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,689,000 after purchasing an additional 16,392 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $79.09 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $75.93 and a one year high of $134.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.72. The stock has a market cap of $198.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Cowen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.13.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.