Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 1,944 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 72.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,626 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,944 shares during the quarter. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 141.7% during the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 57.1% in the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MRK. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.7%

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $88.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $220.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $84.51 and a 200-day moving average of $81.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $105.11.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The business had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.