First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,379 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 568 shares during the quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,089,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 4,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Bell Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 9,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on MRK shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $131.19 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The firm has a market cap of $332.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $126.41 and its 200-day moving average is $115.88.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 EPS for the current year.

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.