Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. Has $404.07 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,104,436 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 679,339 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 2.3% of Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $404,067,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Veltria Advisors Corp. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.2% during the second quarter. Veltria Advisors Corp. now owns 3,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares in the last quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 9,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $735,000 after buying an additional 1,054 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 77.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,049,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $399,738,000 after buying an additional 2,211,568 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.6% in the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 613,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,541,000 after buying an additional 113,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miramar Capital LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% in the second quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 86,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MRK. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $92.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. 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 research report on Monday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $90.00 to $125.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Berenberg Bank lowered shares of 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 report on Wednesday, September 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $100.85 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $105.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $90.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.42. The company has a market cap of $250.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 29.63% and a return on equity of 44.54%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.57 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 42.80%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.