Tnf LLC Sells 882 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Tnf LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,724 shares of the company’s stock after selling 882 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 2.2% of Tnf LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Tnf LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Oak Harvest Investment Services raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.1% in the third quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 42,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,184 shares during the last quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 3,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,090,000 after purchasing an additional 5,071 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 115.7% in the 3rd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 64,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,395,000 after purchasing an additional 34,706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,935 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $104.98 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $265.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.17. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.80 and a 1 year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.