Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Makes New Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,321,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 5,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $569,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at about $3,418,000. Stone Point Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.8% in the third quarter. Stone Point Wealth LLC now owns 28,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557 shares during the period. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.0% during the third quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% during the third quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 13,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,375,000 after acquiring an additional 945 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.90 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $129.48. 6,658,813 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,184,872. The company has a market cap of $327.98 billion, a PE ratio of 144.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $126.45 and a 200-day moving average of $117.33. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

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.