Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Impax Asset Management Group plc

Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 823,846 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 42,810 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $89,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,158 shares of the company's stock valued at $671,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 4,811 shares of the company's stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Bell Bank lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 9,235 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prosperity Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,365 shares of the company's stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $126.71. The stock had a trading volume of 4,696,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,535,009. The firm has a market cap of $320.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 903.57, a PEG ratio of 0.51 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $133.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $126.08 and a 200-day moving average of $113.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The business's revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2,200.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $142.00 price target (up previously from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a "b+" rating to a "c+" rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $130.60.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. 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 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. In other Merck & Co., Inc. 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 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 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 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.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MRK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.