Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC Acquires 1,168 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,240 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,710 shares during the period. Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 521.5% during the first quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 3,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 3,150 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 60.8% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 40,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,499,000 after buying an additional 15,185 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,316.9% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 46,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after buying an additional 44,276 shares during the period. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.5% during the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 266,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,931,000 after buying an additional 35,754 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on MRK. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK opened at $87.63 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $111.58. The stock has a market cap of $218.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.50, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $83.06 and a 200-day moving average of $81.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The company had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.92%.

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.