D.B. Root & Company LLC Has $223,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

D.B. Root & Company LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,817 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the second quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 42,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,358,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 20,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 4,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 49,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,926,000 after purchasing an additional 4,275 shares during the period. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank cut shares of 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4%

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $88.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $221.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.48. 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 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $111.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion during 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. 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. 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.