Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Purchases 10,658 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 157.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,410 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,658 shares during the quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 63,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,900,000 after acquiring an additional 29,304 shares during the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $1,436,000. HealthInvest Partners AB bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $7,160,000. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 10,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $142.00 target price (up previously from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $125.36 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $114.76. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $317.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 895.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,200.00%.

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.