Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos LTDA. Makes New Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos LTDA. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 7,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $907,000. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 2.1% of Vinland Capital Management Gestora de Recursos LTDA.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tevis Investment Management boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tevis Investment Management now owns 26,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,039,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth about $444,000. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 63,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,201,000 after buying an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 42,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,831,000 after buying an additional 3,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiducient Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 3,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.4 %

MRK opened at $102.27 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $112.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.17. The company has a market cap of $259.03 billion, a PE ratio of 19.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.80 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share 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.