Bailard Inc. Sells 2,102 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Bailard Inc. trimmed its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,576 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,102 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Kennedy Investment Group increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. Constitution Capital LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $599,000. Finally, Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $3.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $130.69. 8,392,964 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,286,088. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $331.04 billion, a PE ratio of 928.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current year.

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

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.