Boston Family Office LLC Sells 1,319 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Boston Family Office LLC lowered its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,720 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,319 shares during the period. Boston Family Office LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,979,041,000 after buying an additional 1,292,192 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,606,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,474 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after purchasing an additional 4,932,647 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,072,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,479,799,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on MRK. HSBC raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Leerink Partners cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.12.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $89.74 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $91.75 and a 200-day moving average of $99.82. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $81.04 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $226.69 billion, a PE ratio of 13.33, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.35.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The business had revenue of $15.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business 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 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.14%.

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.