Lodestone Wealth Management LLC Has $3.65 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Lodestone Wealth Management LLC cut its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,169 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,175 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 1.8% of Lodestone Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. now owns 48,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,559,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares during the last quarter. GFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8,325.6% in the third quarter. GFS Advisors LLC now owns 80,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,185,000 after buying an additional 79,926 shares in the last quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% in the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 624,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,969,000 after buying an additional 47,615 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.7% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 1,866,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,015,000 after buying an additional 37,216 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MRK. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $101.88 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $112.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $120.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $258.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $98.60 and a 52 week high of $134.63.

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