Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC Has $5.95 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 54,553 shares of the company’s stock after selling 284 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Kennedy Investment Group raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Constitution Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were 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 owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE MRK traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $130.11. The company had a trading volume of 4,559,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,141,746. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.33. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $329.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.88, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. 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 earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 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 business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share 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.