Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT

Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,185 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,472,000 after acquiring an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,951,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,289,429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,705 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,074,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186,842 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 12,988,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,416,054,000 after acquiring an additional 984,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,587,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,045,241,000 after acquiring an additional 178,132 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK traded up $0.48 on Friday, hitting $131.20. 7,758,230 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,512,518. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $332.33 billion, a PE ratio of 145.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $126.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.88.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.