New York Life Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 345,823 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $27,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,418,820,000 after purchasing an additional 29,104,112 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $991,553,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,543,000 after purchasing an additional 5,060,959 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,130,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,542,036 shares during the period. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at approximately $258,267,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE MRK opened at $88.12 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.60. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $105.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $220.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.37.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MRK. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, September 17th. One 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 given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.33.

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.