AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) by 995.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 898,190 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 816,184 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $101,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the second quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MRK. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.46.
Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance
NYSE:MRK traded down $3.23 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $101.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,496,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,807,210. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $98.60 and a twelve month 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. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.17. The company has a market capitalization of $257.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.89, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS 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.
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