Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Holdings Decreased by Financial Security Advisor Inc.

by · The Markets Daily

Financial Security Advisor Inc. lowered its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,874 shares of the company’s stock after selling 146 shares during the period. Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,874,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,121,372,000 after buying an additional 114,080 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $952,402,000 after buying an additional 64,996 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $855,119,000 after buying an additional 2,095,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,201,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $767,965,000 after acquiring an additional 431,074 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.93.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on MRK

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $101.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $257.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $111.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $98.60 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current 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.

See Also

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