Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC Has $429,000 Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 42.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,366 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,930 shares during the period. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,418,820,000 after purchasing an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $991,553,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,543,000 after acquiring an additional 5,060,959 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,542,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at approximately $258,267,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were 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 represents a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of 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. 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 report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $91.43 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.25. The stock has a market cap of $226.94 billion, a PE ratio of 14.09, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42.

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. The company had revenue of $17.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.57 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.