316 Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Purchased by Peterson Financial Group Inc.

Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 47.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $96.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.90. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $243.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.