Groupama Asset Managment Sells 764,709 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Groupama Asset Managment lessened its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 49.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 789,788 shares of the company's stock after selling 764,709 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $77,697,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,979,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,192 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company's stock worth $13,606,360,000 after buying an additional 1,536,474 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after acquiring an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company's stock worth $6,072,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026,859 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $3,479,799,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Securities cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Cowen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Leerink Partners decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $117.12.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.51 on Wednesday, hitting $86.61. The stock had a trading volume of 10,580,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,120,689. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The business has a 50 day moving average of $91.57 and a 200 day moving average of $99.62. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $81.04 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $218.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.13). Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The firm had revenue of $15.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.03 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

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 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is 48.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Inge G. Thulin acquired 2,833 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $88.25 per share, for a total transaction of $250,012.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $258,837.25. This trade represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,085 shares of the company's stock, valued at $628,864.60. This represents 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 owned by insiders.

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.