Howe & Rusling Inc. Has $2.04 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,737 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,043,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the third quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MRK. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Berenberg Bank upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $129.20 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The firm has a market cap of $327.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.