GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,706 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 123,343 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,706 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $14,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Sendero Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.7% during the first quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the first quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 101,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,337,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Norwood Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Norwood Financial Corp now owns 4,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 726,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,968,000 after acquiring an additional 25,693 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $1.90 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $103.98. 9,625,498 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,795,396. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.80 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $113.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.66. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $263.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 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.