Everett Harris & Co. CA Boosts Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Everett Harris & Co. CA increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 175,489 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,398 shares during the period. Everett Harris & Co. CA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $19,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 118,562,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,766,428,000 after purchasing an additional 2,174,829 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,643,267,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000,816 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 39,289,404 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,951,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,289,429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,705 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK traded up $6.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $131.75. 15,841,390 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,783,678. The stock has a market capitalization of $333.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 941.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $124.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,200.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction 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 $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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 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.