Stockman Wealth Management Inc. Has $12.10 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Stockman Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 110,987 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,651 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 2.4% of Stockman Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Stockman Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $12,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10,221.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,375,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,952,000 after purchasing an additional 2,352,256 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $187,042,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,951,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,289,429,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,705 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,074,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186,842 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was 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 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 hyperlink. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 price objective (up previously from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.11 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $127.05. The stock had a trading volume of 3,327,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,244,031. The company has a market capitalization of $321.82 billion, a PE ratio of 906.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal 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.