Alaethes Wealth LLC Has $222,000 Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Alaethes Wealth LLC decreased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 86.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,210 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,744 shares during the period. Alaethes Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,979,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,192 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after purchasing an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,072,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026,859 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $3,479,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,121,395,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.13.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $83.14 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.33. The company has a market cap of $209.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.93 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $209,562.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,085 shares in the company, valued at $628,864.60. This represents a 24.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Inge G. Thulin acquired 2,833 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $258,837.25. This represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.