Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 32.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 376,302 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 92,146 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $41,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company's stock worth $8,487,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,951,714 shares of the company's stock worth $3,289,429,000 after buying an additional 1,246,705 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company's stock worth $3,074,048,000 after buying an additional 1,186,842 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,479,071,000 after acquiring an additional 228,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 12,988,942 shares of the company's stock worth $1,416,054,000 after purchasing an additional 984,463 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on MRK shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK traded down $0.75 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $127.51. 6,218,206 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,239,238. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $126.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $322.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. Analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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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