Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by St. Louis Trust Co

St. Louis Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,138 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 350 shares during the quarter. St. Louis Trust Co’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’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 directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’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 directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK stock traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $129.19. The company had a trading volume of 6,944,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,301,608. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $126.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.24. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $133.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $327.24 billion, a PE ratio of 144.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current year.

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.