WNY Asset Management LLC Trims Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

WNY Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,656 shares of the company’s stock after selling 445 shares during the period. WNY Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $764,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ELCO Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 200.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 4,380 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 9,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $745,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares in the last quarter. Motco lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Motco now owns 145,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,388,000 after purchasing an additional 7,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendel Money Management lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 9,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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 on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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 reduced their target price for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of MRK stock opened at $87.13 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $217.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $105.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.67.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.