BLB&B Advisors LLC Has $3.42 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

BLB&B Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,212 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,301 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Little House Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 25,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,739,000 after purchasing an additional 3,282 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 888,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,327,000 after purchasing an additional 79,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 189,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,930 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of 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 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $86.30 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $105.07. The stock has a market cap of $215.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a PEG ratio of 0.95 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 $84.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.75.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.22. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The business had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.