Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Holdings Raised by Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC

Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,570 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,258 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avalon Trust Co grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 189,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,700,000 after acquiring an additional 944 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 45.6% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,310,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,036,091 shares in the last quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 138.3% during the fourth quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC now owns 98,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,722,000 after purchasing an additional 57,078 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 48,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,284,000 after buying an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 58,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,388,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE MRK traded down $0.75 on Friday, reaching $127.51. The stock had a trading volume of 6,221,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,932,243. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $126.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.94. The company has a market capitalization of $322.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Truist Financial upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.33.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.