Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC

Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 18.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,772 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 896 shares during the quarter. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.9% during the third quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 37,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,252,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares in the last quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,238 shares during the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 38,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,421,000 after purchasing an additional 1,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Marin lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.4% during the third quarter. Bank of Marin now owns 6,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.1 %

MRK stock opened at $96.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $108.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $243.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 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.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

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.