Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Buys 6,503 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 206,238 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,503 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $23,420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,865,948 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at about $724,776,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $98.35. 1,356,151 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,841,141. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $97.90 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $248.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 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 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 analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 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.