Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC Has $6.55 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,045 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,153 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 1.1% of Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.30 on Wednesday, hitting $128.92. 1,440,892 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,218,220. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The stock has a market cap of $326.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $126.50 and a 200 day moving average of $116.42.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.65 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.