WealthPLAN Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

WealthPLAN Partners LLC reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,281 shares of the company’s stock after selling 644 shares during the period. WealthPLAN Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at about $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake 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, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 47.5% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $100.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market cap of $254.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $110.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.73. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $98.60 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current 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.