United Advisor Group LLC Buys 580 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

United Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,662 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 580 shares during the quarter. United Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $686,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,513,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,665,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,274 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 81,669,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,330,668,000 after purchasing an additional 927,621 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,418,820,000 after buying an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,130,397,000 after buying an additional 3,542,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth approximately $991,553,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MRK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. Finally, Berenberg Bank downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.88.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 24,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,054,475.02. This represents a 25.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 4.0%

NYSE:MRK opened at $96.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. 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 fifty day moving average of $85.67 and a 200 day moving average of $82.52. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $105.07.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.57 EPS. The company’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. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 42.80%.

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.