One Plus One Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

One Plus One Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,980 shares of the company’s stock after selling 675 shares during the quarter. One Plus One Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,332,000 after purchasing an additional 5,088 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 1,307,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,574,000 after acquiring an additional 10,991 shares during the period. Etfidea LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 36.2% in the first quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 5,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $101.65 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $111.71 and its 200 day moving average is $120.47. 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. has a one year low of $98.60 and a one year high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $257.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 37.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MRK. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.93.

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.