Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Sells 791 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,092 shares of the company’s stock after selling 791 shares during the quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $238,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nova R Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth $241,000. CGN Advisors LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the first quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 26,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,512,000 after buying an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.4% during the first quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,445,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461 shares during the period. Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% during the first quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $755,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.6% during the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 9,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,228,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $0.14 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $106.48. The stock had a trading volume of 4,213,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,760,327. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.80 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $269.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.16, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $114.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.