Ballast Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

by · The Markets Daily

Ballast Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,351 shares of the company’s stock after selling 386 shares during the quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MRK. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,211,000 after purchasing an additional 8,985 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.2% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 802,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,205,000 after acquiring an additional 427,831 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth $48,921,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 59.8% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 485,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,056,000 after purchasing an additional 181,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Latko Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at $3,296,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lowered 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.93.

Check Out Our Latest Report on MRK

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded up $0.54 on Wednesday, hitting $102.19. The company had a trading volume of 212,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,811,881. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $98.60 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $258.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $111.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $120.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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