Addison Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 21.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,915 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,914 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,951,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,289,429,000 after buying an additional 1,246,705 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the third 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. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% in 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 buying an additional 984,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,587,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,045,241,000 after acquiring an additional 178,132 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group raised their price target 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, TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.48 during trading on Friday, reaching $131.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,758,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,512,518. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $126.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $115.96. The company has a market cap of $332.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.78, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business 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%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current 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.