Zions Bancorporation N.A. Increases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,078 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares during the quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. ROI Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.1% in the third quarter. ROI Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,658,000 after buying an additional 837 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 50,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,743,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Bell Bank lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% during the third quarter. Bell Bank now owns 10,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.7% during the third quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 32,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,682,000 after purchasing an additional 6,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 45.9% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,697 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MRK. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective 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, October 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK opened at $98.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $248.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $109.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $97.90 and a 1 year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect 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.