Prudent Man Advisors LLC Sells 4,653 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 23.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,247 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,653 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 0.6% of Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,731,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in 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 during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth about $724,776,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,946,742 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,473,346 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on MRK shares. Bank of America lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced 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 note on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.1 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $96.31 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $108.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.83. The company has a market capitalization of $243.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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.