Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,906 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $428,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK stock traded up $0.18 on Thursday, reaching $131.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,135,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,952,911. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The company has a market capitalization of $332.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 145.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $127.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS 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.