Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lessened its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,744 shares of the company’s stock after selling 208 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smith Salley Wealth Management grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 168,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,908 shares in the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 22,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,534,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,427,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $612,942,000 after acquiring an additional 171,638 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 123,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 17,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,960,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MRK. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $103.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $263.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $113.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.63. 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 1-year low of $99.80 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.