Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. Buys Shares of 5,628 Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $472,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 237.4% during the 3rd quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC now owns 307 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Kilter Group LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 302.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 354 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc increased its holdings 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $92.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $125.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jennifer Zachary sold 121,573 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.15, for a total transaction of $14,485,422.95. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 68,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,211,341.40. The trade was a 63.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP David Michael Williams sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.91, for a total value of $609,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,759,460.58. This represents a 13.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 320,176 shares of company stock worth $38,281,735. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $123.45 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $125.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $305.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.27.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.03. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 44.57% and a net margin of 28.08%.The firm had revenue of $16.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.19 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.000-5.150 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 46.70%.

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.