Plan Group Financial LLC Buys New Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Plan Group Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $293,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% in the first quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 4,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the first quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,495,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.3% in the first quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Security National Bank increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the first quarter. Security National Bank now owns 73,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,688,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Bancorp Inc ME increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% in the first quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 4,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $106.90 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $114.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.80 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $270.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($2.06) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.62.

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.