Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by Apexium Financial LP

Apexium Financial LP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,899 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares during the quarter. Apexium Financial LP’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 worth $8,487,472,000 after acquiring an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,479,071,000 after purchasing an additional 228,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 12,988,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,416,054,000 after purchasing an additional 984,463 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of MRK traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $130.89. The company had a trading volume of 5,518,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,099,227. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $126.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.33. The stock has a market cap of $331.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.43, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

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