Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC Sells 223 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,223 shares of the company’s stock after selling 223 shares during the quarter. Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Barry Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barry Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,464,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,211,000 after purchasing an additional 8,985 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.9% in the third quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,523,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314 shares during the last quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 181,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 75,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,036,000 after buying an additional 6,859 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MRK opened at $104.26 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.80 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $264.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. Truist Financial decreased their target price on 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group dropped 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 note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price 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 given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.