Fiera Capital Corp Increases Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,494 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $624,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,865,948 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth $724,776,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,742 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target 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 issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $102.92 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.60 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.99. The company has a market cap of $260.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current 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.