Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,039 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,196 shares during the quarter. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Novem Group purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,814,000. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC now owns 10,380 shares of the company's stock worth $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 485,408 shares of the company's stock worth $48,288,000 after purchasing an additional 62,801 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 44,894 shares of the company's stock worth $4,466,000 after purchasing an additional 6,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CSS LLC IL lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. CSS LLC IL now owns 16,045 shares of the company's stock worth $1,596,000 after purchasing an additional 4,840 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 approximately $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.3%

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $77.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,899,340 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,545,046. The company has a 50 day moving average of $81.76 and a 200-day moving average of $91.46. The stock has a market cap of $194.83 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53, 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 quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. TD Cowen cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. TD Securities cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.