Abbrea Capital LLC Purchases 260 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Abbrea Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,151 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 44.0% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,000 after buying an additional 7,224 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 36.0% during the third quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,000 after buying an additional 2,045 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.5% during the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 13,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,430,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the period. BTC Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% during the third quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 69,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,176,000 after buying an additional 962 shares during the period. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the third quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 15,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,566,000 after buying an additional 934 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. UBS Group upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK traded up $0.48 on Friday, hitting $131.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,756,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,336,529. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $126.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $332.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 937.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.