Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Shares Bought by Evernest Financial Advisors LLC

Evernest Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,680 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Little House Capital LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 25,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,739,000 after acquiring an additional 3,282 shares during the period. Quilter Plc lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,180,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,988,000 after acquiring an additional 62,933 shares during the period. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 888,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,327,000 after acquiring an additional 79,529 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. 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 note on Wednesday, September 17th. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $84.11 on Thursday. 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 $111.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $83.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.44. The company has a market capitalization of $210.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS 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 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. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.