Centric Wealth Management Purchases 1,313 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Centric Wealth Management lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,309 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,313 shares during the period. Centric Wealth Management’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $214,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,966,029,000 after buying an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 21,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,301,000 after acquiring an additional 801 shares during the period. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 48.4% during the 4th quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 21,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 7,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 98,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,729,000 after acquiring an additional 22,991 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock traded down $0.78 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $129.60. 3,254,981 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,144,771. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.33. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $328.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued 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 company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial upped 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

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.