Tower Wealth Partners Inc. Sells 1,577 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Tower Wealth Partners Inc. reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,305 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,577 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 0.4% of Tower Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Tower Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 9,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.5% during the 3rd quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 6,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 22,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,586,000 after buying an additional 1,071 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 80,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,181,000 after buying an additional 6,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shepherd Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 40,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,654,000 after acquiring an additional 929 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $101.87 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $112.29 and a 200-day moving average of $120.87. The company has a market capitalization of $258.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.60 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current 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.