Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Stake Raised by Members Trust Co

Members Trust Co boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,712 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the quarter. Members Trust Co’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in 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 position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in 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 position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in 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 position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% in 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 bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth about $991,553,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Citigroup started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:MRK opened at $87.61 on Wednesday. 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. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $107.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $84.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.39. The stock has a market cap of $218.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced 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 business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.