Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Buys 4,144 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 20.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,022 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,144 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 141.7% during the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth $43,000. Advantage Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 57.1% in the second quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $86.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $105.07. The firm has a market cap of $215.66 billion, a PE ratio of 13.30, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.04.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.22. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The firm had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly 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. 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.