Lansing Street Advisors Cuts Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Lansing Street Advisors trimmed its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,825 shares of the company’s stock after selling 127 shares during the quarter. Lansing Street Advisors’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRK. BSW Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 18,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,056,000 after purchasing an additional 3,671 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% during the third quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,169,000 after buying an additional 945 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.0% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,548,000 after buying an additional 3,830 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 371,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,515,000 after buying an additional 49,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Latko Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $3,296,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $101.88 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $112.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $120.81. The company has a market cap of $258.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $98.60 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.93.

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.