Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. Sells 477 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,903 shares of the company’s stock after selling 477 shares during the period. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 48,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,332,000 after buying an additional 5,337 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the first quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 13,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,257,000 after buying an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.3% during the first quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 493,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,273,000 after buying an additional 76,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bright Rock Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 26.8% during the first quarter. Bright Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 142,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,746,000 after buying an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $86.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $214.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $111.58. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.92%.

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.