Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Buys 834 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 63,408 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $7,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth $26,390,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $92,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.1% in the first quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 940 shares in the last quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the first quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the period. Finally, OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $214,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $104.98 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $112.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.80 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.46.

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.