Breed s Hill Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 4,545 Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Breed s Hill Capital LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $495,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.7% during the third quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 5,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. now owns 332,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,251,000 after acquiring an additional 109,400 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.3% in the third quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 8,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,355 shares in the last quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 14,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,545,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 150.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 1,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,000 after buying an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRK. Societe Generale downgraded 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Insider Activity

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:MRK traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $130.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,095,657 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,196,433. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $126.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $117.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $329.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal 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.