1,901 Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Purchased by Family Capital Management Inc.

Family Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,901 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% during the third quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the 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 completion of 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. TD Cowen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One 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. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $125.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,984,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,315,479. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $126.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $317.21 billion, a PE ratio of 891.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.38. 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 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 net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

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

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.