Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Sells 4,811 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management decreased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 14.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,494 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,811 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth about $27,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 141.7% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth about $48,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.3%

MRK opened at $89.25 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $111.58. 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 50-day moving average price of $82.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.69. The company has a market cap of $222.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.92%.

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.