Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC Purchases 732 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,855 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 732 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 0.9% of Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,332,000 after purchasing an additional 5,088 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605 shares in the last quarter. Hudock Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 26,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 8,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,103,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $101.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $112.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $120.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $258.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $98.60 and a 12-month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 37.32%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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.