Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Purchases 425 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,387 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,332,000 after acquiring an additional 5,088 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the period. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605 shares during the last quarter. Hudock Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 26,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,532,000 after buying an additional 2,538 shares during the period. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 8,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,103,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $101.66 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $257.49 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 current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $98.60 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $112.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.64.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 37.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.