Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Peoples Financial Services CORP. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the second quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 22,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,803,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $423,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 51.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holos Integrated Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.6% in the second quarter. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC now owns 808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.9%

NYSE MRK opened at $101.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $252.77 billion, a PE ratio of 15.69, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $105.84. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $89.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.57 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. 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 directly owned 24,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.