Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX Makes New $4.50 Million Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 41,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,501,000. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 1.4% of Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after buying an additional 4,731,152 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,074,048,000 after buying an additional 1,186,842 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,108,366,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,479,071,000 after purchasing an additional 228,578 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of MRK traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $131.09. The company had a trading volume of 6,491,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,997,219. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $127.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $119.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

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.