Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Price Down 0.6% – What’s Next?

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s share price dropped 0.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $79.30 and last traded at $80.98. Approximately 6,731,850 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 11,209,310 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Securities downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.90. The company has a market capitalization of $206.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $15.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.14%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,979,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,192 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the 4th 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,072,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026,859 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,479,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after buying an additional 4,511,742 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.