Cordatus Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cordatus Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,347 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 366 shares during the quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,390,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $92,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.1% in the first quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $713,000 after purchasing an additional 940 shares in the last quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the first quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the period. Finally, OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $214,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $3.50 during trading on Thursday, hitting $101.33. 7,705,437 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,808,198. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $112.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.17. The company has a market cap of $256.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.89, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $98.60 and a 52-week 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.

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, beating 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 analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS 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.