Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,976 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 538,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,609,000 after buying an additional 11,234 shares in the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the second quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 23,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,893,000 after buying an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.5% during the second quarter. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management now owns 46,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,708,000 after buying an additional 4,072 shares in the last quarter. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the second quarter. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs now owns 94,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,463,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SSA Swiss Advisors AG boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.3% during the second quarter. SSA Swiss Advisors AG now owns 38,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,169,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Saturday. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $87.54 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $106.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.49, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $84.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.55.

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 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 firm had revenue of $15.81 billion for 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, research 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.