CW Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

CW Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 274,803 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,741 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $21,753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,710 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.9% in the first quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 155,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,989,000 after acquiring an additional 15,342 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 32.9% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 144,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,927,000 after acquiring an additional 35,628 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 31,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,486 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.44.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $102.37 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.31. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $105.84. The stock has a market cap of $254.08 billion, a PE ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released 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 return on equity of 44.54% and a net margin of 29.63%.The firm had revenue of $17.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.85 per share. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 44.91%.

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.