Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC Has $591,000 Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC decreased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,204 shares of the company’s stock after selling 98 shares during the period. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TFG Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 6,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $751,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 364.8% during the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 344,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,082,000 after buying an additional 270,106 shares during the period. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,579,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the period. Plan Group Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at $293,000. Finally, Elevated Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 1,763 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.2 %

MRK traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $106.47. 925,051 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,757,181. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.80 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $114.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.04. The stock has a market cap of $269.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.51, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share 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.