Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 59,948 shares of the company’s stock after selling 590 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 4.2% of Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 224,134,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,302,459,000 after buying an additional 3,081,402 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,079,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,468,037,000 after buying an additional 1,077,042 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,949,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,730,513,000 after buying an additional 214,082 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 53.8% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 22,349,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,037,608,000 after buying an additional 7,816,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.2% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,026,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,552,347,000 after buying an additional 2,111,477 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MRK. Credit Suisse Group increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 19th. Barclays increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $110.00 to $128.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 20th. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 10th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.35.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,436 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.25, for a total transaction of $462,453.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,159,575. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,436 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.25, for a total transaction of $462,453.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,159,575. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sanat Chattopadhyay sold 83,994 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.29, for a total value of $9,431,686.26. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,312,555. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 100,245 shares of company stock valued at $11,168,256. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $104.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $264.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.34. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $78.63 and a one year high of $115.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $108.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.66 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.47% and a net margin of 24.49%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 51.14%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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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.