Princeton Global Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Princeton Global Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 63.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,396 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,998 shares during the quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. CORDA Investment Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.3% in the second quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 432,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,200,000 after buying an additional 21,675 shares in the last quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the second quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,298,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.2% in the second quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 84,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,691,000 after buying an additional 4,923 shares in the last quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% in the second quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,016,000 after buying an additional 1,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balboa Wealth Partners raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.6% during the second quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 4,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on 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. 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 report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $86.30 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $109.17. The stock has a market cap of $215.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $84.03 and a 200-day moving average of $81.35. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The company had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.