Litchfield Caroline 4

What Happened

• Caroline Litchfield, EVP & Chief Financial Officer of Merck & Co. (MRK), exercised 41,997 stock options and immediately sold the 41,997 shares on Feb 4, 2026.
• Exercise price: $53.06 per share (total cash paid ≈ $2,228,361). Sale proceeds: weighted-average sale price $119.61 per share (total ≈ $5,023,312). The net cash realized (sale proceeds minus exercise cost) is the difference between those amounts.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-02-04; Form 4 filed: 2026-02-06 (timely filing).
• Sale price (weighted avg): $119.61; individual sale prices ranged $119.54–$119.78 (see footnote F1).
• Shares involved: 41,997 shares exercised and sold.
• Shares owned after transaction: not reported in the excerpt provided.
• Footnotes of note:
  • F1: Weighted-average sale price; reporting person can provide per-trade prices on request.
  • F2: Exercise price/holdings were adjusted in connection with the June 2, 2021 Organon spin-off.
  • F3: The option vested in installments on 5/10/2017, 5/10/2018 and 5/10/2019.
• No 10b5-1 plan or tax-withholding disposition is indicated in the provided data.

Context

• This is a common “exercise-and-sell” (cashless exercise) transaction: options were exercised and the resulting shares were sold the same day. Such transactions often reflect routine option-exercise management rather than a clear signal about company prospects.
• For retail investors, purchases may be more informative about insider conviction; here the insider monetized vested options.