OneAscent Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

OneAscent Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 21.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,199 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth $25,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 141.7% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MRK. Berenberg Bank lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $85.90 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $214.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $105.07.

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

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,054,475.02. This represents a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.