E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 616 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,388 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $587,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,914 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after buying an additional 4,731,152 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10,221.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,375,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,952,000 after buying an additional 2,352,256 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $187,042,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,074,048,000 after buying an additional 1,186,842 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Berenberg Bank increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated 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 $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.90 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $129.48. 6,658,813 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,184,872. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $126.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $327.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.