Banque Transatlantique SA Cuts Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Banque Transatlantique SA cut its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 94.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 23,433 shares of the company’s stock after selling 418,552 shares during the period. Banque Transatlantique SA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,865,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,710 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at about $721,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.5% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 90,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,141,000 after acquiring an additional 15,452 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.7% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 35,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,180,000 after acquiring an additional 4,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.2% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 4,513,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,077,000 after acquiring an additional 264,668 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total value of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $100.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $249.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.29. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.66. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $105.84.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 44.54% and a net margin of 29.63%.Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.57 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 42.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Berenberg Bank cut shares of 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 report on Wednesday, September 17th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.50.

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.