Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Trading Up 1.5% – Here’s What Happened

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) shares traded up 1.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $84.65 and last traded at $84.53. 3,770,849 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 14,816,002 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.29.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $116.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 2.0 %

The company has a market cap of $226.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The business’s fifty day moving average is $95.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $15.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The business’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 48.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MRK. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.2% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 802,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,205,000 after acquiring an additional 427,831 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $855,119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,095,694 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 6,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $684,000 after purchasing an additional 979 shares in the last quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 40.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Monte Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC now owns 48,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,454,000 after buying an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.