Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp Purchases 164,042 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1,960.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 172,410 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 164,042 shares during the quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $18,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 94.2% in the first quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 349,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,683,000 after purchasing an additional 169,536 shares in the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,423,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 159,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,064,000 after purchasing an additional 9,376 shares in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,078,000. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% in the first quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 36,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 4,131 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.14 during trading on Thursday, reaching $125.23. The company had a trading volume of 5,984,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,315,480. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $126.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.76. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The stock has a market cap of $317.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 891.43, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion for 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 revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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%.

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.