Bartlett & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) by 4.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 182,127 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,624 shares during the period. Bartlett & Co. LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $19,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 224,134,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,302,459,000 after purchasing an additional 3,081,402 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,339,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,354,384,000 after purchasing an additional 238,356 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,643,267,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,816 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,363,385,000 after purchasing an additional 39,289,404 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,079,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,468,037,000 after purchasing an additional 1,077,042 shares during the period. 76.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $127.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday, March 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $128.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned 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 $120.75.
Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 22.52% and a return on equity of 37.92%. The business had revenue of $14.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.14 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 57.03%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.
In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Sanat Chattopadhyay sold 134,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.07, for a total transaction of $15,425,708.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Rita A. Karachun sold 15,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.53, for a total value of $1,865,788.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 45,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,372,296.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sanat Chattopadhyay sold 134,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.07, for a total transaction of $15,425,708.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 488,258 shares of company stock worth $56,481,018. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About Merck & Co., Inc.
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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.
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