Davis R M Inc. Trims Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Davis R M Inc. cut its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 319,730 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,635 shares during the quarter. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $34,857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. NTV Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,089,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $130.76. 6,050,646 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,047,135. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $331.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS 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.