Mutual Advisors LLC Trims Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Mutual Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,823 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,745 shares during the quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $9,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 160,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,142,000 after buying an additional 1,595 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 4,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $619,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 189.4% during the 1st quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,470,000 after buying an additional 17,210 shares in the last quarter. Penbrook Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. Penbrook Management LLC now owns 4,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Buffington Mohr McNeal boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.9% in the first quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal now owns 82,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,924,000 after buying an additional 6,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started 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 target for the company. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $103.76 on Wednesday. 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 fifty-two week low of $99.80 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The business has a fifty day moving average of $113.09 and a 200-day moving average of $121.28. The stock has a market cap of $262.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.