Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Stock Holdings Lifted by Berkshire Bank

Berkshire Bank increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,569 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,708 shares during the period. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,736,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,710 shares during the last quarter. American Assets Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $398,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,887,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $486,169,000 after buying an additional 623,000 shares during the last quarter. Triglav Skladi D.O.O. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $8,722,000. Finally, St. Clair Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $582,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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 price objective 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, Cantor Fitzgerald cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE:MRK opened at $81.07 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $202.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $119.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $82.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.68.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.92%.

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.