Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Position Cut by St. Louis Trust Co

St. Louis Trust Co trimmed its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,788 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the period. St. Louis Trust Co’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at $39,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $42,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3 %

MRK stock opened at $96.56 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $108.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.60. The company has a market cap of $244.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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