Private Wealth Management Group LLC Makes New Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $0.31 on Friday, hitting $131.19. The company had a trading volume of 8,281,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,287,899. The stock has a market cap of $332.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $127.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.62. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

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.