Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC Acquires 688 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 23.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,677 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 688 shares during the quarter. Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE:MRK opened at $86.30 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $109.17. 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 stock has a market cap of $215.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $84.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.35.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results 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 firm 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Berenberg Bank downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.33.

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.