Linscomb Wealth Inc. Sells 135 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Linscomb Wealth Inc. cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 71,405 shares of the company’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Altrius Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 38,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,421,000 after buying an additional 1,827 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Marin increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Marin now owns 6,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.8% in the third quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 145.6% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 248,397 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,208,000 after acquiring an additional 147,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 88,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK traded down $2.83 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $95.53. 5,084,716 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,857,322. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $109.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.20. The stock has a market cap of $241.66 billion, a PE ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current 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.