IVC Wealth Advisors LLC Has $2.43 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

IVC Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,386 shares of the company’s stock after selling 416 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.3% of IVC Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,847,000 after buying an additional 5,865,948 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth approximately $724,776,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,742 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after buying an additional 2,473,346 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $103.98 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $263.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.29, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.80 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.59. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($2.06) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.