Barrett & Company Inc. Has $530,000 Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Barrett & Company Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,698 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the period. Barrett & Company Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $530,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 12,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after acquiring an additional 2,146 shares in the last quarter. West Coast Financial LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 469.9% in the 1st quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 40,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,645,000 after acquiring an additional 33,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 223.6% in the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 39,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,531,000 after acquiring an additional 27,185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.3%

MRK opened at $89.25 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $111.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $222.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. 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 report on Thursday, July 10th. Berenberg Bank downgraded 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.41.

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.