Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC Increases Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,522 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the quarter. Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. River Global Investors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,816,000. NTV Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,893,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 8,267 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 13,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after buying an additional 2,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avalon Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 189,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,700,000 after buying an additional 944 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:MRK traded down $0.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $127.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,221,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,932,243. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.75. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10.

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

Insider Activity

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” 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 research note on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.