First Financial Bankshares Inc Increases Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

First Financial Bankshares Inc grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 832,389 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 8,967 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 2.0% of First Financial Bankshares Inc's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. First Financial Bankshares Inc's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $94,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Patron Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,396,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 247,338 shares of the company's stock worth $32,636,000 after purchasing an additional 22,578 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.2% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 802,384 shares of the company's stock worth $91,205,000 after purchasing an additional 427,831 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth about $48,921,000. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 59.8% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 485,103 shares of the company's stock worth $60,056,000 after purchasing an additional 181,520 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four 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 an average target price of $131.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $1.90 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $103.98. The stock had a trading volume of 9,625,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,795,396. The firm's fifty day moving average is $113.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $121.59. The company has a market capitalization of $263.36 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.80 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 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.