Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Shares Bought by Invenio Wealth Partners LLC

Invenio Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 63.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,195 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,789 shares during the period. Invenio Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew 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 worth $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $122,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 15,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 1,982 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 29,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 1,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Wealth Services increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 25,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,278,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Wall Street Zen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $92.94 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $85.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.43. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $105.07. The stock has a market cap of $230.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.22. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The business had revenue of $17.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.