Camelot Portfolios LLC Takes $205,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Camelot Portfolios LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 94.2% in the first quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 349,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,683,000 after acquiring an additional 169,536 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth $2,423,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 159,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,064,000 after buying an additional 9,376 shares during the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth $1,078,000. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% during the first quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 36,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,964,000 after buying an additional 4,131 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.71.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of MRK opened at $127.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $323.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 912.64, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $125.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.42. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. Analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 2,200.00%.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.