Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Holdings Reduced by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,988,681 shares of the company’s stock after selling 135,977 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 0.9% of PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,037,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cora Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% in the first quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $465,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 32,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,451,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 9,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,083,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 32.2% during the second quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 386 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,730,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $122.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, October 6th. UBS Group upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 27th. Finally, TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “a-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, September 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.14.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE MRK traded up $0.86 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $103.54. 723,269 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,438,519. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.11. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $96.36 and a one year high of $119.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $262.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.04, a P/E/G ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.30 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 7.77% and a return on equity of 18.26%. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Richard R. Deluca sold 43,823 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.03, for a total transaction of $4,602,729.69. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 111,764 shares in the company, valued at $11,738,572.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Johannes Jacobus Oosthuizen sold 2,081 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.38, for a total value of $213,052.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 18,191 shares in the company, valued at $1,862,394.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard R. Deluca sold 43,823 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.03, for a total transaction of $4,602,729.69. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 111,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,738,572.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.