Cordatus Wealth Management LLC Purchases 366 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cordatus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,347 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 366 shares during the quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. United Asset Strategies Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.3% during the third quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 95,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,879,000 after acquiring an additional 3,913 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 995.3% during the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 898,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,998,000 after buying an additional 816,184 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 650,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,908,000 after buying an additional 93,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos LTDA. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth about $907,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 3.3 %

NYSE MRK traded down $3.50 during trading on Thursday, hitting $101.33. 7,705,437 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,808,198. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $112.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.17. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $98.60 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $256.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.89, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($2.06) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current 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.