HealthInvest Partners AB Invests $7.16 Million in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

HealthInvest Partners AB purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 65,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,160,000. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 5.6% of HealthInvest Partners AB’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allen Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 10,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,282,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,797,000 after purchasing an additional 50,423 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 88,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,604,000 after purchasing an additional 20,700 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $750,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Buffington Mohr McNeal lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal now owns 76,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,367,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 target price (up previously from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $125.06 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $114.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $316.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 893.29, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,200.00%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.