Fiduciary Family Office LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Fiduciary Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,182 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 1.1% of Fiduciary Family Office LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Fiduciary Family Office LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,332,000 after acquiring an additional 5,088 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the period. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% in the first quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605 shares during the last quarter. Hudock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.5% during the first quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 26,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,532,000 after buying an additional 2,538 shares during the period. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the first quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 8,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,103,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.81 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $101.06. 1,608,212 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,828,079. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $98.60 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $112.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $120.64. 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 cap of $255.97 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS 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.