Ballast Inc. Has $397,000 Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Ballast Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,637 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Constitution Capital LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 57,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,922,000 after purchasing an additional 15,529 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Ossiam boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 118.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ossiam now owns 215,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,912,000 after buying an additional 117,002 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $142.00 target price (up from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.71.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of MRK opened at $131.92 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $124.48 and its 200-day moving average is $112.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $334.11 billion, a PE ratio of 942.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The firm had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. 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 Merck & Co., Inc. 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.