Frazier Financial Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,914 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,966,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,152 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,074,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186,842 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,108,366,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,479,071,000 after purchasing an additional 228,578 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $0.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $131.29. 2,060,201 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,952,360. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $332.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $127.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $119.31. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week 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 the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. One equities 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.