Beacon Financial Advisory LLC Has $532,000 Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Beacon Financial Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 28.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,725 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,473 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $532,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Gemmer Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 5,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 156.9% during the 2nd quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 85,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,790,000 after acquiring an additional 52,381 shares during the last quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.6% during the second quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 63,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,991,000 after acquiring an additional 15,861 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.0% during the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 169,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,435,000 after purchasing an additional 46,762 shares during the period. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the second quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 297,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,562,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:MRK opened at $89.25 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $111.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.52.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.92%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.