AIA Group Ltd Buys 45,797 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 360,465 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,797 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.6% of AIA Group Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $39,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Smead Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,922,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $318,608,000 after purchasing an additional 11,572 shares during the period. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV now owns 19,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,133,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $7,366,000. Twin Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,742,000 after buying an additional 1,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ now owns 8,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $907,000 after acquiring an additional 780 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 research firms recently commented on MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 target price (up from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MRK traded down $0.45 on Thursday, reaching $124.92. 2,842,593 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,271,678. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $126.20 and its 200-day moving average is $114.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $316.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 891.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,200.00%.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.