Alhambra Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Alhambra Investment Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,876 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Alhambra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $861,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at $991,553,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,060,959 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,991.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,332,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,880,000 after buying an additional 4,289,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,542,036 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $79.89 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $82.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $116.26. The firm has a market cap of $199.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MRK. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on 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. Berenberg Bank cut 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.