Chase Investment Counsel Corp Sells 5,615 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 40.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,101 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,615 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $883,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the third quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. 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. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. TD Cowen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE MRK traded down $0.94 on Monday, hitting $130.26. The stock had a trading volume of 2,893,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,267,913. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week 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 company has a market capitalization of $329.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $126.41 and a 200-day moving average of $116.05.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the 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 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 is available at this link. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.