Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Invests $90.87 Million in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 913,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $90,865,000. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 1.1% of Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ's portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Napatree Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company's stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,080,000. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $5,601,000 after acquiring an additional 8,461 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $4,482,000 after acquiring an additional 22,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 632,355 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,907,000 after acquiring an additional 10,332 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Securities cut 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 report on Monday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on 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. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $109.19.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other 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 value 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. This trade represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.6%

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $76.86. The company had a trading volume of 20,636,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,616,358. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $80.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.63. The firm has a market cap of $193.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.07 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.16%.

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.