Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Acquires 43,410 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 521,039 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 43,410 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $41,245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. 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 worth $22,665,601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417,274 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $7,330,668,000 after acquiring an additional 927,621 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $4,418,820,000 after acquiring an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $1,130,397,000 after acquiring an additional 3,542,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $991,553,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4%

MRK stock opened at $87.54 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $218.65 billion, a PE ratio of 13.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.56. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $106.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%. 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.