Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Has $265.77 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc decreased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 27.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,671,572 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,035,243 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned approximately 0.11% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $265,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 287,113 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,562,000 after purchasing an additional 25,372 shares in the last quarter. Family Management Corp increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Family Management Corp now owns 38,279 shares of the company's stock worth $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares during the period. FWL Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 14,961 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,488,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the period. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 10,427 shares of the company's stock worth $1,037,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the period. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 325,784 shares of the company's stock worth $32,409,000 after buying an additional 28,047 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $111.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business's 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK traded down $3.00 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $77.43. 14,389,264 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,222,348. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.82 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $85.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.97.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.