Bell Bank Has $1.16 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Bell Bank boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,173 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Bell Bank’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 32,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,682,000 after purchasing an additional 6,204 shares in the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 45.9% during the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $613,000 after buying an additional 1,697 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.0% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 424,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,239,000 after purchasing an additional 42,052 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 206,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,420,000 after acquiring an additional 6,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 280,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,822,000 after purchasing an additional 6,797 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $98.53 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $97.90 and a 1 year high of $134.63. 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 50 day moving average price is $110.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.50. The stock has a market cap of $249.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.