SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Has $1.93 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,436 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,535 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 141.7% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at about $43,000. Advantage Trust Co grew its stake 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 valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MRK. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $91.43 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $84.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $105.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $226.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.09, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.57 EPS. The firm’s 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.