Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,898 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 48,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after acquiring an additional 5,337 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,026.8% in the first quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at $888,000. Finally, Evanson Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the first quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 3,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, September 17th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.0%

MRK opened at $84.78 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $83.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $211.76 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $109.92.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $15.81 billion for 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. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 49.92%.

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.