Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Purchases 228 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 197,277 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $21,617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:MRK traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $127.01. The company had a trading volume of 7,105,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,287,475. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $321.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 907.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $115.59. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

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.