Fairway Wealth LLC Acquires New Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,213,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,408,763,000 after buying an additional 5,550,824 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 748.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,149,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $313,346,000 after buying an additional 2,778,388 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,231,000 after purchasing an additional 2,610,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $611,924,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194,463 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $95.13 on Tuesday. 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. has a 1-year low of $81.04 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced 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 net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.03 EPS. As a group, analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.14%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Securities lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price target (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.39.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $88.25 per share, for a total transaction of $250,012.25. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at $258,837.25. This trade represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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.

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.