Parcion Private Wealth LLC Grows Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Parcion Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,232 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,734 shares during the period. Parcion Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 47.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 27.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 397 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $103.98 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $113.52 and a 200 day moving average of $121.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $263.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.80 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($2.06) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal 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.