Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Shares Sold by JFS Wealth Advisors LLC

JFS Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 17,946 shares of the company’s stock after selling 454 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,513,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,665,601,000 after buying an additional 1,417,274 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 81,669,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,330,668,000 after buying an additional 927,621 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% during the 1st 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 during the period. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% during the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at $991,553,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $86.02 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $83.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.51. The stock has a market cap of $214.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $111.58.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.31.

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.