Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. Boosts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,313 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 179 shares during the quarter. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peoples Financial Services CORP. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the second quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 22,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,803,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the second quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the first quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 5,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Saiph Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the first quarter. Saiph Capital LLC now owns 3,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $86.39 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $83.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.56. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $111.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. Research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 49.92%.

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.