Malaga Cove Capital LLC Buys 933 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Malaga Cove Capital LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,372 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 933 shares during the quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the 1st 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 period. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after buying an additional 1,048 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.9% during the first quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 19,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,596,000 after buying an additional 4,643 shares during the last quarter. Chapman Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth about $207,000. Finally, Hemenway Trust Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 9,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup decreased their target price 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $100.72 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $111.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.33. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $98.60 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $255.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business 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 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.