Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Position Lessened by Davidson Trust Co.

Davidson Trust Co. trimmed its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,170 shares of the company’s stock after selling 682 shares during the quarter. Davidson Trust Co.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.3% during the second quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 1,332,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,419,000 after acquiring an additional 91,199 shares in the last quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the second quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the second quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 3,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $311,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.2% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 640,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,720,000 after buying an additional 37,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morningstar Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth $865,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $84.82 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $211.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.67 and its 200-day moving average is $81.42. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $111.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The company 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. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.