Searle & CO. Has $4.70 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Searle & CO. cut its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 35.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,393 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,928 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 1.2% of Searle & CO.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Searle & CO.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,475.6% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 32,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 27.7% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on MRK shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $106.52. 1,897,779 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,762,031. The stock has a market capitalization of $269.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.51, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.04. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.80 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current 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.