Opinicus Capital Inc. Makes New $1.02 Million Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Opinicus Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 9,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,021,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.6% during the third quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 2,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 32,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Instrumental Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Instrumental Wealth LLC now owns 3,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 173,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,884,000 after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 65,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,793,000 after purchasing an additional 2,648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $0.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $131.20. 7,758,230 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,512,518. The stock has a market cap of $332.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $133.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $126.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.