Lincoln National Corp Acquires 16,584 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Lincoln National Corp increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 21.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 95,644 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,584 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $10,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 5,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 56,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,812,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 658,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,793,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 8,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $909,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ now owns 7,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $777,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 2.2 %

MRK stock traded up $2.81 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $130.38. 6,629,581 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,201,772. The stock has a market cap of $330.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. 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. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $133.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $126.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.13.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.