Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 285,720 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,369 shares during the quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $22,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DLD Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,889,340,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,858,570,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $4,418,820,000 after buying an additional 29,104,112 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth $991,553,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.5% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,032,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,139,901,000 after buying an additional 5,135,748 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Citigroup began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Scotiabank began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.06.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $101.84 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $252.77 billion, a PE ratio of 15.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $89.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.00. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $105.84.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue 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. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 44.91%.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.