Winslow Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Winslow Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 91,236 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 1.9% of Winslow Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Winslow Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $10,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 256.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 923 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,537,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $742,358,000 after purchasing an additional 43,578 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Financial LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 2,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 43.6% during the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 2,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patron Partners LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the third quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $100.76 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $98.60 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.73.

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

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.