Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Cuts Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC decreased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,744 shares of the company’s stock after selling 208 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MRK. Smith Salley Wealth Management boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the third quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 168,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,908 shares during the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.1% during the third quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 22,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,534,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 5,427,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $612,942,000 after acquiring an additional 171,638 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 123,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the third quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 17,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,960,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRK. Barclays lowered 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 research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $103.98 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.63. The company has a market capitalization of $263.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.29, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current 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.