Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 11,819 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 198,801 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,819 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $19,777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 176.7% during the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA now owns 2,640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 1,686 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 16,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,598,000 after acquiring an additional 3,982 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 136.7% in the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 7,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 4,199 shares during the period. Prospect Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $254,000. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 44.0% in the fourth quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after acquiring an additional 3,623 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on MRK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.12.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $92.39 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.78. 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 $233.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.14%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.