Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton Acquires 161 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,590 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Capital World Investors increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,874,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,121,372,000 after purchasing an additional 114,080 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,362,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,102,135,000 after purchasing an additional 56,644 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $952,402,000 after purchasing an additional 64,996 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $855,119,000 after buying an additional 2,095,694 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $3.35 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $101.48. 7,599,295 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,805,328. The company’s 50 day moving average is $112.87 and its 200 day moving average is $121.17. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $98.60 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $257.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.