Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC Acquires 732 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,855 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 732 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 0.9% of Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,725,000. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.6% in the third quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $818,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Legacy CG LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.4% in the third quarter. Legacy CG LLC now owns 52,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,999,000 after acquiring an additional 3,629 shares during the last quarter. Rational Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 36.7% in the third quarter. Rational Advisors LLC now owns 2,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.2% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 571,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,931,000 after acquiring an additional 48,368 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $101.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $258.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $112.00 and its 200-day moving average is $120.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $98.60 and a 52 week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 37.32%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share 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.