Precedent Wealth Partners LLC Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Precedent Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,139 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,259 shares during the quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Little House Capital LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,739,000 after purchasing an additional 3,282 shares during the last quarter. Quilter Plc lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,180,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,988,000 after purchasing an additional 62,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% in the 1st quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,997,000 after purchasing an additional 30,335 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $89.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $82.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $111.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 49.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Berenberg Bank lowered 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 note on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.41.

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.