Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 186,982 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 48,807 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $21,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,332,000 after purchasing an additional 5,088 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% during the first quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 7,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth about $48,921,000. Finally, Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC now owns 31,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,129,000 after acquiring an additional 3,968 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $98.31 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market cap of $248.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $97.90 and a one year high of $134.63.

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 business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.