Shelton Capital Management Reduces Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Shelton Capital Management cut its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 134,471 shares of the company's stock after selling 9,267 shares during the period. Shelton Capital Management's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $13,377,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Canopy Partners LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Canopy Partners LLC now owns 11,458 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 1,262,015 shares of the company's stock valued at $125,545,000 after purchasing an additional 53,074 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,464 shares of the company's stock worth $6,114,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,452,240 shares of the company's stock worth $1,537,189,000 after acquiring an additional 2,847,934 shares during the period. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.0% during the 4th quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 2,440 shares of the company's stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $115.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 2.1 %

MRK stock traded up $1.59 during trading on Friday, reaching $79.14. The company had a trading volume of 16,176,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,512,141. 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 company has a market cap of $199.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.76, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50 day moving average of $88.43 and a 200 day moving average of $97.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.96 and a 52 week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

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 shares were bought at an average cost 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. This trade represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $209,562.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,085 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $628,864.60. This trade 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 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.