Donoghue Forlines LLC Boosts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Donoghue Forlines LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,341 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,755 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 141.7% during the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Advantage Trust Co lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 57.1% during the second quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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 lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of MRK stock opened at $92.99 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $230.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $105.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $85.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released 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 return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The business had revenue of $17.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $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. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the firm’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 value of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,054,475.02. This trade represents a 25.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.