Bessemer Group Inc. Buys 526,293 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 34.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,054,137 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 526,293 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $216,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MRK. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 576,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,731,000 after acquiring an additional 24,576 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 48.9% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 97,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,296,000 after acquiring an additional 32,114 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 123,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after acquiring an additional 13,940 shares during the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 347,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,181,000 after acquiring an additional 99,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,866,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $142.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.18.

Merck & Co., Inc. News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Merck & Co., Inc. this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted that Keytruda continues to be a major growth driver for Merck, with strong first-quarter sales and potential upside from new indications and combination therapies in 2026. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Merck is being discussed in a broader biotech/biopharma context, including Veeva’s upcoming summit where Merck will participate in AI and commercial strategy discussions. This is more of an industry event than a direct earnings or pipeline catalyst. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Separate commentary noted that Merck has attracted investor attention on Zacks and that recent share-price performance has been mixed, which may be keeping traders focused on valuation rather than prompting a fresh buy or sell signal. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Another market note said Merck’s short-term momentum has cooled after recent weakness, even though longer-term performance remains strong. That suggests investors are weighing the recent pullback against the company’s solid fundamentals. Article Title

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:MRK opened at $113.21 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $125.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $279.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.89, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.18.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported ($1.28) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.47) by $0.19. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $16.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.040-5.160 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products. Its portfolio spans multiple therapeutic areas with a particular emphasis on oncology, vaccines and infectious disease, as well as therapies for metabolic and chronic conditions. Among its well-known products are the cancer immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil; the company also markets a range of medicines and vaccines for veterinary use through Merck Animal Health.

Founded in the late 19th century as the U.S.