Palisade Asset Management LLC Has $2.97 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Palisade Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 27,216 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the period. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $129.55. 6,574,322 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,162,661. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $328.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.20, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $126.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal 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.