Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC Acquires 224 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,922 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 224 shares during the quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 145.6% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 248,397 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,208,000 after buying an additional 147,267 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 88,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,011,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.5% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 122,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,938,000 after buying an additional 5,237 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% in the third quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 186,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,234,000 after purchasing an additional 48,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, King Wealth Management Group increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.3% during the third quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 8,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK traded down $3.41 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $94.95. 2,607,245 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,843,112. The company has a market capitalization of $240.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The business has a 50 day moving average of $109.27 and a 200 day moving average of $119.20.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its 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 return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.