VCI Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 7,155 Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

VCI Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% during the third quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 2.9 %

MRK traded up $3.71 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $130.71. The company had a trading volume of 12,747,423 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,343,713. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $331.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 928.86, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $126.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $115.59.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.