Naples Money Management LLC Purchases Shares of 36,334 Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 36,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,000. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 3.7% of Naples Money Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 5,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $612,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,807,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 4,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 9,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,007,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report 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. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $125.78. 8,377,080 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,316,745. 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 $318.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 894.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,200.00%.

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.