Intellectus Partners LLC Acquires New Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Intellectus Partners LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 6,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $730,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 47.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth about $43,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Daiwa America cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $96.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $243.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.20.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current 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.