Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. Has $5.45 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,903 shares of the company’s stock after selling 477 shares during the period. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,808,000 after acquiring an additional 8,710 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 48,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,332,000 after acquiring an additional 5,337 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 13,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,257,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 493,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,273,000 after acquiring an additional 76,223 shares during the period. Finally, Bright Rock Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 26.8% in the 1st quarter. Bright Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 142,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,746,000 after buying an additional 30,000 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on 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. Berenberg Bank downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on 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. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $86.02 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $111.58. The stock has a market cap of $214.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.51.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $15.81 billion for 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. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.