Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 1,505 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,997 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,505 shares during the quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 47.5% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth approximately $43,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK traded down $2.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $96.31. The company had a trading volume of 16,464,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,910,528. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $243.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $108.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.97.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRK. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

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.