Parthenon LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Parthenon LLC lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 158,883 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,596 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 2.4% of Parthenon LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Parthenon LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $17,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 10,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. St. Louis Trust Co lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 14,138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 115,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,608,000 after acquiring an additional 3,641 shares during the period. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 16,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,746,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MONECO Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 10,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned 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, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.93 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $129.19. 6,944,906 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,301,608. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $126.50 and a 200-day moving average of $116.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $327.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current fiscal 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.