Sweeney & Michel LLC Buys 221 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sweeney & Michel LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,873 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the quarter. Sweeney & Michel LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $42,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,475.6% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 32,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 27.7% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 397 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.15 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $106.19. 1,176,730 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,745,440. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $114.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.19. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.80 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $268.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.