Glass Wealth Management Co LLC Boosts Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Glass Wealth Management Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,269 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 613 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 2.1% of Glass Wealth Management Co LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 45.1% during the third quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 15,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,809,000 after acquiring an additional 4,954 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 7,517,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,739,000 after buying an additional 19,400 shares during the period. S&CO Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the third quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 403,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,800,000 after acquiring an additional 4,200 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,837,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,649,000 after buying an additional 62,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 18,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,088,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa America lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $96.31 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $108.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.83. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $243.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share 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.