Holistic Planning LLC Acquires 1,144 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Holistic Planning LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 19.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,951 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,144 shares during the quarter. Holistic Planning LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth $4,279,000. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.4% in the third quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 58,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,656,000 after buying an additional 3,015 shares during the period. Source Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% during the third quarter. Source Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 5,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 629 shares during the period. Finally, Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 204.0% in the 3rd quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 119,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,610,000 after acquiring an additional 80,428 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MRK. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $102.92 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $120.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $98.60 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $260.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.