Concord Wealth Partners Raises Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Concord Wealth Partners lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 29.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,297 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,991 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 0.8% of Concord Wealth Partners’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Concord Wealth Partners’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. IRON Financial LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the second quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE MRK traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $104.10. 1,781,148 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,761,746. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $113.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $263.67 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.80 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 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.