Hexagon Capital Partners LLC Buys 2,108 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 58.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,704 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,108 shares during the quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fiducient Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 4,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC now owns 16,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,810,000 after acquiring an additional 6,265 shares during the last quarter. Waycross Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 254.5% in the fourth quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 19,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after buying an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Funds Management Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 10,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,111,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 18th. TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.0 %

MRK stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $129.21. The stock had a trading volume of 797,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,209,942. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The firm has a market cap of $327.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $126.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.42. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.65 earnings per share 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.