3,912 Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Purchased by Goldstone Financial Group LLC

Goldstone Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,390,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at about $92,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 940 shares in the last quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at about $214,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MRK. Bank of America dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $104.98 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $112.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.17. The stock has a market cap of $265.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.80 and a fifty-two week 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.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share 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.