RFP Financial Group LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

RFP Financial Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,908 shares of the company’s stock after selling 408 shares during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,865,948 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at $724,776,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,782,000 after buying an additional 2,473,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 230.8% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,807,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,622,000 after buying an additional 1,959,152 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MRK. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:MRK traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $106.16. 1,917,685 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,749,073. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.80 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $268.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.16, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $114.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.