Hanlon Investment Management Inc. Acquires 164 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hanlon Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,061 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Hanlon Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the third quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 47,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,381,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 164.1% during the 3rd quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 4,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 2,781 shares during the period. Clarity Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $234,000. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 554,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,924,000 after acquiring an additional 9,667 shares during the period. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.3% during the third quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 12,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $101.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $112.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $257.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. 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 prior year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

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.