Courier Capital LLC Sells 346 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Courier Capital LLC lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 70,216 shares of the company’s stock after selling 346 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $7,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the second 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 during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,475.6% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 32,832 shares during the period. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 27.7% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $0.08 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $106.72. The company had a trading volume of 2,427,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,765,349. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.80 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $270.30 billion, a PE ratio of 118.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s 50-day moving average is $114.01 and its 200 day moving average is $122.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.