Sage Private Wealth Group LLC Trims Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Sage Private Wealth Group LLC lowered its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 50.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,920 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,013 shares during the quarter. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.4% during the second quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 120,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,518,000 after buying an additional 8,237 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,735,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $845,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319,358 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 11,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $934,000 after acquiring an additional 1,857 shares during the last quarter. Commons Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $229,000. Finally, Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MRK. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target 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 cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.5%

MRK opened at $83.72 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $209.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.37. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $83.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.40. 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 $110.19.

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. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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