Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 6,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $529,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alerus Financial NA grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Alerus Financial NA now owns 71,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,501,000 after buying an additional 22,197 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 77,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,936,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566 shares in the last quarter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC now owns 63,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,834,000 after purchasing an additional 2,083 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 720,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,239,000 after purchasing an additional 15,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RB Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 6,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $493,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.88% of the company’s stock.

MRK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 6th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 12th. Finally, SVB Leerink dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $90.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.81 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $94.64. The stock had a trading volume of 9,011,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,178,938. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.89 and a 52-week high of $94.92. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $239.33 billion, a PE ratio of 16.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 28th. The company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.64 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.27% and a return on equity of 47.86%. The company’s revenue was up 31.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Merck & Co., Inc. (Get Rating)

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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.

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