Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA Purchases New Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 153,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,271,000 after acquiring an additional 17,351 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 5,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 34,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,468,000 after acquiring an additional 3,623 shares during the last quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 7,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $748,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stockman Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 128,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,735,000 after acquiring an additional 12,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $209,562.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,085 shares in the company, valued at $628,864.60. This represents a 24.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $88.25 per share, for a total transaction of $250,012.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $258,837.25. This trade represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $86.52 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.27 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.13). Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The company had revenue of $15.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MRK. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.94.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

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.