Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Main Street Financial Solutions LLC

Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 23.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,419 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,204 shares during the quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,475.6% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 32,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 47.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MRK shares. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE MRK traded up $0.64 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $99.22. The stock had a trading volume of 3,042,367 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,850,809. The company has a market capitalization of $250.99 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $110.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.50. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $97.90 and a twelve month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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.