V Square Quantitative Management LLC Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 25.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,745 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 10,614 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.2% of V Square Quantitative Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. V Square Quantitative Management LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRK. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "b+" rating to a "c+" rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Finally, Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.2 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.21 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $130.78. The company had a trading volume of 6,254,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,049,210. The stock has a market cap of $331.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $127.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.23.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. 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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