Oakworth Capital Inc. Acquires 330 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

by · The Markets Daily

Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,816 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,364,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 59,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,759,000 after purchasing an additional 10,831 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $68,000. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 61,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,021,000 after acquiring an additional 3,671 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Barclays lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.62.

Get Our Latest Research Report on MRK

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $106.04 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.80 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $268.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.16, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $114.16 and a 200-day moving average of $122.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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