Patron Partners LLC Acquires 139 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Patron Partners LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,855 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the quarter. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the second quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued 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 a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $100.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $254.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $110.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.73. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $98.60 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.