First Heartland Consultants Inc. Has $871,000 Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

First Heartland Consultants Inc. decreased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,670 shares of the company’s stock after selling 352 shares during the quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $871,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 183,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,883,000 after acquiring an additional 22,204 shares in the last quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 9,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 7,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Winslow Asset Management Inc. now owns 91,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,361,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 256.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MRK. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $98.54 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $110.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.73. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.50 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $249.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.