Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Stephens Inc. AR

Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 575,581 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 21,658 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 0.9% of Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $65,363,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. IRON Financial LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the second quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Forza Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of MRK opened at $102.32 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $112.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.04. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.60 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $259.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.