O Brien Greene & Co. Inc Sells 100 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

O Brien Greene & Co. Inc trimmed its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,995 shares of the company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Kennedy Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the period. Constitution Capital LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $599,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price target 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. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $131.20 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $332.33 billion, a PE ratio of 145.77, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $133.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.88.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.