Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by YHB Investment Advisors Inc.

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 32.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,696 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,564 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Patron Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 247,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,636,000 after acquiring an additional 22,578 shares in the last quarter. G&S Capital LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at $1,359,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.2% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 802,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,205,000 after acquiring an additional 427,831 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth $48,921,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. 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. Truist Financial dropped their price target 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. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of MRK opened at $106.38 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $113.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $269.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.80 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.