E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 12,289 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 66.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,799 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,289 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $855,119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,095,694 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.7% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.2% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 571,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,931,000 after acquiring an additional 48,368 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.5% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 536,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,170,000 after acquiring an additional 94,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forte Capital LLC ADV lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 24.7% during the third quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 22,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,599,000 after acquiring an additional 4,540 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $88.25 per share, for a total transaction of $250,012.25. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $258,837.25. This trade represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $209,562.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $628,864.60. This represents a 24.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.8 %

MRK opened at $93.93 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $237.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $94.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $81.04 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $15.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.03 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Securities lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. HSBC raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.39.

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.