Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Has $208.65 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,837,354 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 62,047 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.07% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $208,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Capital International Investors grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company's stock valued at $794,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,865,948 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $724,776,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $337,450,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company's stock valued at $308,782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473,346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group decreased their target price 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 America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $2.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $96.31. 16,464,508 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,989,258. The firm has a market capitalization of $243.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63. The company's 50 day moving average is $108.84 and its 200 day moving average is $118.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS 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.