Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Position Raised by Donald L. Hagan LLC

Donald L. Hagan LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,784 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the quarter. Donald L. Hagan LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after buying an additional 5,865,948 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the first 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 acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at about $724,776,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% during 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. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.2 %

MRK traded up $0.25 on Wednesday, reaching $101.90. 1,748,347 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,819,025. The company has a market cap of $258.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $111.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $120.47. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 37.32%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.93.

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.