Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,231,846 shares of the company’s stock after selling 124,336 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $139,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,332,000 after acquiring an additional 5,088 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 93,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,379,000 after buying an additional 6,190 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 105.4% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 164,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,747,000 after buying an additional 84,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.4% in the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 32,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,270,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE MRK opened at $96.31 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $243.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $108.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.97.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MRK. UBS Group decreased 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. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

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.