New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 133,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,319,000. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 0.5% of New Age Alpha Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $34,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $209,562.36. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $88.25 per share, with a total value of $250,012.25. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at $258,837.25. The trade was a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MRK. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Securities lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Eleven equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $117.12.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of MRK stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $89.26. The company had a trading volume of 3,301,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,848,619. The company has a market cap of $225.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $81.04 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $15.62 billion for 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. On average, research 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 of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is 48.14%.

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.