Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Old North State Wealth Management LLC

Old North State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,253 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Old North State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 47.5% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth about $43,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MRK. UBS Group lowered their price objective on 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. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4 %

MRK opened at $101.88 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $98.60 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $112.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $120.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $258.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current 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.