Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV Has $886,000 Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV decreased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,195 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,107 shares during the quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,513,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,665,601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417,274 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 81,669,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,330,668,000 after acquiring an additional 927,621 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,418,820,000 after acquiring an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,397,000 after acquiring an additional 3,542,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $991,553,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Saturday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $89.25 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $111.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.37. 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 announced 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 business had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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

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.