Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Stock Acquired by Calamos Advisors LLC

Calamos Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 799,616 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 149,113 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $116,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,456,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,858,938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,969,856 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,774,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,701,831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,919,780 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 263.7% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,702,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,334,000 after purchasing an additional 1,959,778 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 86,249,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,083,033,000 after buying an additional 1,934,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $260,560,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $152.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $143.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.74.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK traded down $0.04 on Friday, hitting $146.90. 7,626,136 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,275,775. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.63. The firm has a market cap of $362.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 151.44, a P/E/G ratio of 6.70 and a beta of 0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $85.24 and a one year high of $156.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $18.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.33 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 16.56% and a net margin of 3.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 2.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Chirfi Guindo sold 10,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total value of $1,350,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 36,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,942,755. The trade was a 21.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jennifer Zachary sold 80,315 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.46, for a total transaction of $10,718,839.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 45,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,073,631.14. The trade was a 63.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,635 shares of company stock valued at $18,011,040. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a global pharmaceutical company that develops and markets prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal-health products. The company’s research and commercial activities span areas including oncology, infectious diseases, vaccines, cardiovascular disease and immunology. Its products include the cancer medicine Keytruda and the Gardasil vaccine.

Founded in the United States in 1891, Merck & Co became an independent company in 1917. It is headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and operates internationally.