Intact Investment Management Inc. Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 134,100 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,400 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $14,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MRK. Advisory Alpha LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 2,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 32,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,371,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Instrumental Wealth LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Instrumental Wealth LLC now owns 3,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 173,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 65,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,793,000 after acquiring an additional 2,648 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

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

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $131.20. 7,758,230 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,512,518. The company has a market cap of $332.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 145.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $126.41 and a 200-day moving average of $115.88.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.33.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.