Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $315.61 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,894,965 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 327,286 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $315,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Kennedy Investment Group increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 445 shares during the period. Constitution Capital LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $599,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

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

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %

MRK stock traded down $0.17 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $129.05. The company had a trading volume of 1,825,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,222,379. The stock has a market cap of $326.89 billion, a PE ratio of 143.54, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $126.50 and a 200-day moving average of $116.42. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. Research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MRK. Barclays boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

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.