Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC Cuts Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 38.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,608 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,504 shares during the quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 737,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,417,000 after acquiring an additional 30,773 shares during the period. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 31.2% in the 2nd quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,098,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 71,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,642,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the period. Opinicus Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.1% during the second quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 16,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 615,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,750,000 after purchasing an additional 37,349 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total value of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $93.00 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $105.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $85.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.38. The stock has a market cap of $230.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.22. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The business had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect 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.