Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC Buys 386 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,658 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 386 shares during the quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 47.5% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $102.92 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.99. The company has a market cap of $260.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $98.60 and a twelve month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

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.