Aviance Capital Partners LLC Has $2.58 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,652 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,944 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,579,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE MRK traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $127.56. 6,551,711 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,219,841. The firm has a market cap of $323.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.73, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS 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 company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS 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.