Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Stokes Family Office LLC

Stokes Family Office LLC cut its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 45.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,099 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,960 shares during the period. Stokes Family Office LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $0.75 on Friday, reaching $127.51. The company had a trading volume of 6,221,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,932,243. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $126.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $322.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

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.