Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by Austin Private Wealth LLC

Austin Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,816 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. Austin Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MRK. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Citigroup cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of MRK stock traded down $1.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $100.72. 1,001,118 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,825,242. The stock has a market capitalization of $255.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $98.60 and a one year high of $134.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $112.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $120.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.