Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp Has $469,000 Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,715 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 773 shares during the period. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 23,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,301,000 after acquiring an additional 2,316 shares during the period. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. now owns 3,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097 shares during the period. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 89,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,902,000 after purchasing an additional 36,715 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 12,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,183,000 after buying an additional 3,002 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 5,474 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the company’s 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 owns 7,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $628,864.60. This represents a 24.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $258,837.25. The trade was a 2,833.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MRK. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group dropped 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. Daiwa America cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $87.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $99.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.87. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.12 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $220.73 billion, a PE ratio of 18.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

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.