Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Shares Sold by F m Investments LLC

F m Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,245 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,522 shares during the quarter. F m Investments LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Little House Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 25,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% in the first quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,739,000 after acquiring an additional 3,282 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% in the second quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 888,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,327,000 after acquiring an additional 79,529 shares during the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 117.4% in the second quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 189,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,930 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Merck & Co., Inc. from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.06.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total value of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $104.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $259.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $88.66 and a 200 day moving average of $83.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $105.84.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The business had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 44.91%.

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.