Santori & Peters Inc. Has $328,000 Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Santori & Peters Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,890 shares of the company’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. Santori & Peters Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $328,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Cullinan Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.2% during the third quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 46,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,939,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 1,332 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.1% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 9,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $939,000 after purchasing an additional 2,243 shares in the last quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.8% in the third quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 445,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,615,000 after purchasing an additional 73,705 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of 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. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $105.21. 1,038,482 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,753,986. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.93. The firm has a market cap of $266.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.80 and a 52 week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 earnings per share 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.