Meritage Portfolio Management Purchases 299 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 40,534 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 251,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,402,000 after acquiring an additional 12,364 shares in the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 46,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,097,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Eley Financial Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Eley Financial Management Inc now owns 14,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,605,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lyell Wealth Management LP raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 209.8% in the fourth quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 6,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 4,333 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of MRK stock traded up $3.72 on Thursday, hitting $130.72. The stock had a trading volume of 12,740,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,343,660. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $126.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.59. The company has a market cap of $331.12 billion, a PE ratio of 928.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $14.63 billion during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.