Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Lowers Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. cut its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 82,209 shares of the company’s stock after selling 352 shares during the quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $9,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at $39,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth $36,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MRK. Daiwa America lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK traded up $0.45 on Monday, hitting $96.76. 171,009 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,871,502. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $108.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.83. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $244.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current 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.