Noesis Capital Mangement Corp Sells 437 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Noesis Capital Mangement Corp cut its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 102,602 shares of the company’s stock after selling 437 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 2.6% of Noesis Capital Mangement Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $11,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,089,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 4,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $127.51. 6,221,928 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,932,243. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $116.75. The firm has a market cap of $322.99 billion, a PE ratio of 141.68, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.