Brighton Jones LLC Has $3.40 Million Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,196 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,473 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 26,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,928,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 448,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,853,000 after purchasing an additional 12,400 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 43,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,719,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Certuity LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 129.7% in the fourth quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 16,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,775,000 after acquiring an additional 9,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 36,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,988,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MRK shares. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” 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 given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $0.93 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $129.19. 6,944,906 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,301,608. The firm has a market capitalization of $327.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $126.46 and its 200-day moving average is $116.24.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current 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.