Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Purchases 61,003 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 615,565 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,003 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $55,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Napatree Capital LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $2,080,000. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 56,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,601,000 after purchasing an additional 8,461 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 102.2% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 45,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,482,000 after purchasing an additional 22,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 632,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,907,000 after purchasing an additional 10,332 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of MRK stock opened at $78.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $134.63. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.96.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 47.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. TD Securities lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. TD Cowen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

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.