Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Buys 1,482 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,578 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,482 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,513,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,665,601,000 after buying an additional 1,417,274 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 81,669,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,330,668,000 after buying an additional 927,621 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,418,820,000 after buying an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,397,000 after buying an additional 3,542,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth $991,553,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. 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 research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on 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. One equities research 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE MRK opened at $86.15 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $105.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $215.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.