Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Makes New Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 47,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,150,000. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 4.7% of Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after purchasing an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,074,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186,842 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,479,071,000 after buying an additional 228,578 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 12,988,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,416,054,000 after buying an additional 984,463 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE MRK traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $129.55. The stock had a trading volume of 6,599,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,184,361. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.33. The company has a market cap of $328.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.