Hemenway Trust Co LLC Increases Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hemenway Trust Co LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,356 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Savvy Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.5% in the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 7,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the third quarter. Winslow Asset Management Inc. now owns 91,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,361,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 256.4% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,537,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $742,358,000 after acquiring an additional 43,578 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.4% in the third quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 2,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

MRK traded down $0.57 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $100.16. 1,867,450 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,829,772. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.73. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $98.60 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group decreased their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

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.