17 Capital Partners LLC Sells 825 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

17 Capital Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,785 shares of the company’s stock after selling 825 shares during the period. 17 Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Privium Fund Management B.V. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.2% during the third quarter. Privium Fund Management B.V. now owns 60,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,826,000 after acquiring an additional 16,314 shares in the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 33,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,820,000 after purchasing an additional 2,690 shares in the last quarter. Field & Main Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 18,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,055,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kerusso Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the third quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC now owns 25,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,858,000 after buying an additional 1,533 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $102.92 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.03. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.60 and a 1 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 company has a market capitalization of $260.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 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 company 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 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 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 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.