Capital Wealth Planning LLC Sells 932,081 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Capital Wealth Planning LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 27.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,513,495 shares of the company’s stock after selling 932,081 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 3.1% of Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $274,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,914 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,152 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10,221.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,375,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,952,000 after acquiring an additional 2,352,256 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $187,042,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,074,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186,842 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of MRK traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $130.90. 5,481,673 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,076,159. The firm has a market cap of $331.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 146.38, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $133.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $126.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current 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.