Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 655.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,374 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 21,146 shares during the period. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during 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 increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 5,337 shares during the period. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% in the first quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 5,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,292,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,026,000 after purchasing an additional 22,556 shares during the period. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% in the first quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 33,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,994,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $87.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $218.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $107.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released 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 business 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.