Chartwell Investment Partners LLC Trims Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 247,844 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,191 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 1.0% of Chartwell Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $28,145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,874,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,121,372,000 after buying an additional 114,080 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $952,402,000 after buying an additional 64,996 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $855,119,000 after buying an additional 2,095,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,355,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $721,782,000 after acquiring an additional 518,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE MRK opened at $102.92 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $98.60 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $260.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $110.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.94.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 36.42%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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 report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

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.