IFM Investors Pty Ltd Acquires 3,586 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 531,758 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,586 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 0.6% of IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $60,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 64,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,508,000 after buying an additional 4,296 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at $106,000. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Sunpointe LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 4,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 11,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,538,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock traded down $1.07 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $105.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,699,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,764,271. The firm has a market capitalization of $266.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $113.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current 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.