Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Trading Down 0.4% – Time to Sell?

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) shares dropped 0.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $93.84 and last traded at $94.43. Approximately 1,788,014 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 9,953,299 shares. The stock had previously closed at $94.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. HSBC raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.12.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $237.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $93.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $15.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $88.25 per share, for a total transaction of $250,012.25. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at $258,837.25. This represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $209,562.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $628,864.60. The trade was a 24.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MRK. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $855,119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,095,694 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,355,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $721,782,000 after purchasing an additional 518,270 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.8% in the third quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 5,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,364,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 651.8% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,674,000 after buying an additional 12,781 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.