Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd Invests $490,000 in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $490,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Little House Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 25,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,739,000 after purchasing an additional 3,282 shares during the last quarter. Quilter Plc boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,180,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,988,000 after purchasing an additional 62,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake 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 valued at $70,327,000 after purchasing an additional 79,529 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Berenberg Bank cut 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of MRK stock opened at $87.25 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $106.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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.