Sonora Investment Management Group LLC Sells 169,105 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC reduced its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 96.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,692 shares of the company’s stock after selling 169,105 shares during the quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 540,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,769,000 after acquiring an additional 5,890 shares during the last quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,367,000 after acquiring an additional 17,799 shares during the last quarter. Financial Partners Group LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.8% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Partners Group LLC now owns 36,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,867,000 after acquiring an additional 6,472 shares during the last quarter. Barry Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Barry Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,501,000 after acquiring an additional 6,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 47.7% in the 2nd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $905,000 after acquiring an additional 3,694 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Finally, Berenberg Bank lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MRK stock opened at $78.51 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.10 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $114.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $82.53 and a 200 day moving average of $81.81. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.