Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Scott & Selber Inc.

Scott & Selber Inc. reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,818 shares of the company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.6% of Scott & Selber Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Scott & Selber Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,090,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the first 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. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,874,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,121,372,000 after buying an additional 114,080 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $952,402,000 after buying an additional 64,996 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $855,119,000 after buying an additional 2,095,694 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,355,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $721,782,000 after acquiring an additional 518,270 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective 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. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $102.92 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $110.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $260.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $98.60 and a 52 week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 37.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 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.