S.A. Mason LLC Sells 388 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

S.A. Mason LLC decreased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,605 shares of the company’s stock after selling 388 shares during the quarter. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 16,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,802,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 22,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,501,000 after purchasing an additional 7,890 shares during the period. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co of the South bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,889,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 5.0 %

MRK opened at $131.75 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $124.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $333.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 941.07, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share 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. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,200.00%.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Societe Generale lowered 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. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. TD Cowen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have given 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 a consensus price target of $129.50.

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.