Eley Financial Management Inc Acquires 227 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Eley Financial Management Inc increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,718 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the quarter. Eley Financial Management Inc’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10,221.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,375,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,952,000 after acquiring an additional 2,352,256 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $187,042,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,951,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,289,429,000 after buying an additional 1,246,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,074,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186,842 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MRK shares. TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $131.29. 3,286,575 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,278,946. The firm has a market capitalization of $332.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 937.57, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

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.