Red Mountain Financial LLC Has $528,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Red Mountain Financial LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 29.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,671 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,518 shares during the quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 10,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $889,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Sendero Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after buying an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $883,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.8%

MRK opened at $89.45 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $112.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.37. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $82.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.73.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 49.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MRK. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.