Clear Trail Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Clear Trail Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 70,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,971 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 1.4% of Clear Trail Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Clear Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,322,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,770,014,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,853 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 120,040,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,737,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,859,990 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 86,435,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,098,196,000 after purchasing an additional 11,156,354 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,047,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,307,572,000 after purchasing an additional 249,110 shares during the period. Finally, DLD Asset Management LP raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter. DLD Asset Management LP now owns 47,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,986,675,000 after buying an additional 11,000,000 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MRK. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $142.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, March 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.18.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $115.47 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $115.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.66 and a twelve month high of $125.14. The company has a market capitalization of $285.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.21.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported ($1.28) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.47) by $0.19. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $16.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.040-5.160 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 95.77%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products. Its portfolio spans multiple therapeutic areas with a particular emphasis on oncology, vaccines and infectious disease, as well as therapies for metabolic and chronic conditions. Among its well-known products are the cancer immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil; the company also markets a range of medicines and vaccines for veterinary use through Merck Animal Health.

Founded in the late 19th century as the U.S.