Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC Has $253,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC lowered its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,191 shares of the company’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after acquiring an additional 8,710 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 48,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after acquiring an additional 5,337 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.5% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,646,903 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,826,000 after acquiring an additional 86,412 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 46,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266 shares during the period. Finally, Good Life Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% in the first quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 11,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 767 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $85.64 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $111.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 49.92%.

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.