Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Position Cut by Capital Wealth Planning LLC

Capital Wealth Planning LLC lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 27.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,513,495 shares of the company's stock after selling 932,081 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 3.1% of Capital Wealth Planning LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Capital Wealth Planning LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $274,021,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted 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 valued at $3,074,048,000 after buying an additional 1,186,842 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company's stock worth $1,479,071,000 after acquiring an additional 228,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 984,463 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "b+" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued 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

MRK traded down $0.84 during trading on Thursday, hitting $130.89. 5,518,149 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,099,227. The firm has a market capitalization of $331.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 145.43, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $127.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $118.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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.