Avitas Wealth Management LLC Purchases 634 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,722 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 634 shares during the quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 160,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,142,000 after buying an additional 1,595 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 4,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $619,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 189.4% in the first quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,470,000 after purchasing an additional 17,210 shares in the last quarter. Penbrook Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Penbrook Management LLC now owns 4,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Buffington Mohr McNeal raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal now owns 82,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,924,000 after purchasing an additional 6,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.5 %

MRK stock opened at $103.76 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.80 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $262.80 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($2.06) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.46.

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.