Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,399 shares of the company’s stock after selling 185 shares during the quarter. Allstate Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $916,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NTV Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,893,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,089,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,807,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.2 %

MRK traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $131.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,415,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,955,250. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $332.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 145.69, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $127.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.31. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on MRK shares. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group raised their target price 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, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.