TSP Capital Management Group LLC Has $2.92 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

TSP Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,826 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,100 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 0.9% of TSP Capital Management Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. TSP Capital Management Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 141.7% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $48,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.88.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 4.0%

MRK opened at $96.61 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $85.67 and a 200 day moving average of $82.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $105.07. The company has a market cap of $239.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $17.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.57 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.