Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,757 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the 3rd 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. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,951,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,289,429,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,705 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,074,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186,842 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 12,988,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,416,054,000 after buying an additional 984,463 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,587,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,045,241,000 after buying an additional 178,132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given 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 an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of MRK traded up $1.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $131.84. The company had a trading volume of 4,076,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,289,740. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $333.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 937.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $126.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current 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.