Pictet North America Advisors SA Purchases 154 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Pictet North America Advisors SA increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,529 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,847,000 after buying an additional 5,865,948 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at about $724,776,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position 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 Merck & Co., Inc. by 230.8% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,807,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,622,000 after acquiring an additional 1,959,152 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $106.66 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $114.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.80 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $270.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on 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, Bank of America cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.62.

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.