DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Lowers Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 82.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 875,191 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,112,964 shares during the quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $87,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,355,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $721,782,000 after acquiring an additional 518,270 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $319,000. Sterneck Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $220,000. InvesTrust bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $891,000. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 519,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,689,000 after buying an additional 16,392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen lowered 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, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. This trade represents a 35.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $79.09 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.93 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.72. The firm has a market cap of $198.60 billion, a PE ratio of 11.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.