Oak Harvest Investment Services Purchases 4,194 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Oak Harvest Investment Services increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 58,922 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,194 shares during the period. Oak Harvest Investment Services’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 282.0% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 30,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,707,000 after buying an additional 22,263 shares during the last quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC now owns 6,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $615,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 49,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,572 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 203,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,262,000 after acquiring an additional 8,397 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of MRK stock opened at $92.99 on Friday. 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 $105.07. The stock has a market cap of $230.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.22. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The business had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report 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 report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Berenberg Bank lowered 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.