Probity Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Probity Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,915 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake 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 worth $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,710 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 48,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,332,000 after buying an additional 5,337 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 453,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,674,000 after buying an additional 2,348 shares during the period. First Bancorp Inc ME increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.2% during the first quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 4,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,000 after buying an additional 638 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.8% during the first quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Berenberg Bank downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target 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, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $86.30 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $215.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.30, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $109.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.35. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current 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.