Wealthspire Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 51,264 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,262 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company's stock worth $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company's stock worth $3,966,029,000 after buying an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10,221.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,375,269 shares of the company's stock worth $258,952,000 after buying an additional 2,352,256 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $187,042,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "b+" rating to a "c+" rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $131.33.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Merck & Co., Inc.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance
MRK stock traded down $0.90 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $129.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,658,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,184,872. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $327.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $126.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.33.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.
Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile
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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.
Further Reading
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MRK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report).
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