Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Herold Advisors Inc.

Herold Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,792 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 854 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 1.1% of Herold Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Herold Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 240,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,241,000 after purchasing an additional 13,339 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. AM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 15,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,719,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the period. Finally, TAP Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $225,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $131.20 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $126.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $332.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.77, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.