Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Apella Capital LLC

Apella Capital LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 14.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,855 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,385 shares during the quarter. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MRK. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,479,799,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,213,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,408,763,000 after purchasing an additional 5,550,824 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in 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 period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,151,642,000 after buying an additional 4,480,007 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. TD Cowen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $78.28 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $196.56 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.21. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.16%.

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.