Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 74.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,564 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,495 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. TFG Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.9% during the third quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 6,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 364.8% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 344,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,082,000 after purchasing an additional 270,106 shares in the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% during the third quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,579,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth about $293,000. Finally, Elevated Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after acquiring an additional 1,763 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of 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. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $106.52. 1,897,779 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,762,031. The firm has a market cap of $269.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.04. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.80 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.