Blue Barn Wealth LLC Lowers Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Blue Barn Wealth LLC cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,333 shares of the company’s stock after selling 157 shares during the quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 5,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,418,000. Stone Point Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stone Point Wealth LLC now owns 28,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557 shares during the period. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 13,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,375,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.83 on Wednesday, reaching $129.55. The company had a trading volume of 6,644,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,184,361. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $126.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The firm has a market cap of $328.15 billion, a PE ratio of 144.20, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.