M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Boosts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,143 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the period. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 63,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,045,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 33,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares during the period. Presilium Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.3% during the 2nd quarter. Presilium Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,314 shares during the period. Finally, Cypress Capital Group boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 53,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRK. 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. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $86.02 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $214.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $111.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $83.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.42.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

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

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.