Swedbank AB Purchases 130,541 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,660,652 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 130,541 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 0.9% of Swedbank AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Swedbank AB owned about 0.30% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $762,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,450,000 after buying an additional 2,946,742 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,231,000 after acquiring an additional 2,610,800 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $611,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,696,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,296 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.2 %

MRK traded up $1.16 on Wednesday, hitting $98.61. The company had a trading volume of 567,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,463,358. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $249.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.67.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.