Everence Capital Management Inc. Acquires 20,700 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 30.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 88,091 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,700 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 0.7% of Everence Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $9,604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $750,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Buffington Mohr McNeal increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal now owns 76,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,367,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC now owns 53,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,843,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. Suncoast Equity Management increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 165,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,042,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 93,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,193,000 after purchasing an additional 6,045 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

MRK traded down $0.72 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $125.47. The company had a trading volume of 3,264,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,342,972. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $126.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.53. The company has a market cap of $317.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 898.50, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 2,200.00%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.