Massachusetts Wealth Management Acquires 100 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 22,474 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 1.6% of Massachusetts Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Massachusetts Wealth Management’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE MRK traded down $0.53 on Friday, reaching $105.35. The company had a trading volume of 1,691,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,757,142. The stock has a market capitalization of $266.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s fifty day moving average is $113.72 and its 200 day moving average is $121.82. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.80 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 earnings per share 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.