Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Position Cut by Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. trimmed its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 471,703 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,574 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 3.1% of Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $51,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in 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 valued at $4,363,385,000 after acquiring an additional 39,289,404 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $2,736,293,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after acquiring an additional 5,196,914 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,671.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,099,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,400,000 after acquiring an additional 4,915,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 184.5% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,254,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $837,144,000 after acquiring an additional 4,705,004 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Barclays raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 price objective (up previously from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock traded down $0.88 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $125.31. The stock had a trading volume of 2,625,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,334,918. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $317.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 901.36, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $126.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.53.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,200.00%.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’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 value of $6,420,395.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.