US Bancorp DE Sells 46,006 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

US Bancorp DE trimmed its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,965,777 shares of the company’s stock after selling 46,006 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $223,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Patron Partners LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 247,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,636,000 after purchasing an additional 22,578 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,211,000 after acquiring an additional 8,985 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.2% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 802,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,205,000 after acquiring an additional 427,831 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth $48,921,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock traded down $3.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $101.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,099,872 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,805,328. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.60 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $257.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s fifty day moving average is $112.87 and its 200-day moving average is $121.17.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($2.06) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.