Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Investment House LLC

Investment House LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 122,379 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 0.9% of Investment House LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Investment House LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $13,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 96,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,944,000 after buying an additional 1,191 shares in the last quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 3,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID now owns 4,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,000 after buying an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc. now owns 50,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,238,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 23,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,382,000 after buying an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $1.04 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $130.16. 3,300,639 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,273,639. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $329.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.78, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $126.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.05.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.