Fifth Third Bancorp Has $116.35 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 881,761 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,407 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $116,348,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 24,915 shares of the company's stock worth $3,288,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company's stock worth $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company's stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company's stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hendershot Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the first quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 15,756 shares of the company's stock worth $2,079,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "b+" rating to a "c+" rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.54 during trading on Thursday, reaching $128.26. 7,416,636 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,262,936. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock's fifty day moving average is $126.49 and its 200 day moving average is $116.58. The firm has a market cap of $324.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

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.

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