Old North State Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Old North State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,253 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares during the quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Patron Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 247,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,636,000 after buying an additional 22,578 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,211,000 after buying an additional 8,985 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.2% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 802,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,205,000 after buying an additional 427,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at about $48,921,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $101.88 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $258.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.81. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.60 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on 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. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.93.

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.