Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Shares Sold by Liberty Wealth Management LLC

Liberty Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 93.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,726 shares of the company’s stock after selling 55,339 shares during the period. Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MRK. Little House Capital LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the second quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 25,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,739,000 after buying an additional 3,282 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 888,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,327,000 after buying an additional 79,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 189,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,930 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Citigroup started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $88.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $220.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $105.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $84.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.60.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The company had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.