Apollon Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 30.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 98,415 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,991 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $10,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Lincoln National Corp lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 95,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,427,000 after buying an additional 16,584 shares in the last quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 9,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 197,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,560,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104 shares during the period. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 17,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 2,240 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 322,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,229,000 after acquiring an additional 4,356 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK traded up $2.81 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $130.38. 6,566,817 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,202,011. The company has a market capitalization of $330.26 billion, a PE ratio of 142.78, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.13. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share 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.