Apeiron RIA LLC Has $255,000 Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Apeiron RIA LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,836 shares of the company’s stock after selling 287 shares during the period. Apeiron RIA LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,417,274 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 927,621 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 29,104,112 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 21,547,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,143,571,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 18,375,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,828,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,313 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of MRK opened at $85.11 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $119.38. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $212.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $82.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.91.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The company had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend 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.