Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 102.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,790 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 34,312 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $7,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company's stock worth $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,874,714 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,121,372,000 after buying an additional 114,080 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company's stock valued at $952,402,000 after buying an additional 64,996 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company's stock valued at $855,119,000 after buying an additional 2,095,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 7,517,951 shares of the company's stock valued at $853,739,000 after buying an additional 19,400 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE:MRK traded down $0.75 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $95.81. The stock had a trading volume of 6,578,850 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,923,630. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.60. The company has a market capitalization of $242.36 billion, a PE ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

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.