Good Life Advisors LLC Buys 1,993 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Good Life Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 17.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,426 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,993 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the third quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 108.1% during the third quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 464 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 value of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $0.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $131.95. 10,135,548 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,805,867. The company has a market cap of $334.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 942.86, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $124.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.52. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 2,200.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Societe Generale lowered 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 note on Monday, March 11th. TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.71.

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.