Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. Has $1.52 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,934 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 1.6% of Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Cross Staff Investments Inc raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Constitution Capital LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $599,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK traded down $0.75 on Friday, hitting $127.51. The company had a trading volume of 6,221,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,932,243. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $322.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.68, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $126.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.75.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share 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.