Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 257,592 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 10,293 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.'s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $25,625,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 127,991 shares of the company's stock worth $12,733,000 after buying an additional 3,873 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 508,030 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares during the period. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 18,592 shares of the company's stock worth $1,850,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 291,629 shares of the company's stock worth $29,011,000 after purchasing an additional 13,664 shares during the period. Finally, Viawealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 5,549 shares of the company's stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target 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 Cowen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $117.12.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, Director Inge G. Thulin acquired 2,833 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $88.25 per share, with a total value of $250,012.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $258,837.25. This represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $628,864.60. The trade was 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. Stock Performance

MRK stock traded down $4.43 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $87.88. The company had a trading volume of 20,632,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,243,650. The company has a market cap of $221.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $81.04 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.78.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 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 business's revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.