My Legacy Advisors LLC Sells 2,029 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

My Legacy Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,757 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,029 shares during the quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $767,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 84.4% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 328,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,337,000 after purchasing an additional 150,432 shares in the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 79,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,077,000 after buying an additional 3,027 shares during the period. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the third quarter. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee now owns 17,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after buying an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sweeney & Michel LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sweeney & Michel LLC now owns 6,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $106.60. 5,218,723 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,765,255. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $114.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.19. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.80 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $270.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current 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.