Ballentine Partners LLC Has $3.86 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Key Points

• Ballentine Partners LLC reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.5% in Q2, now holding shares worth $3.86 million after selling 11,780 shares.
• Merck's latest earnings report revealed an EPS of $2.13, beating analyst expectations, but revenue fell short at $15.81 billion against a forecast of $15.92 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, representing a 4.1% yield, with the payout scheduled for October 7th.

Ballentine Partners LLC lessened its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 19.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,716 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,780 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,856,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Kempner Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kempner Capital Management Inc. now owns 68,406 shares of the company's stock worth $5,415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,778 shares in the last quarter. BCS Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% in the second quarter. BCS Wealth Management now owns 16,260 shares of the company's stock worth $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.2% during the second quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,392 shares of the company's stock worth $1,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071 shares during the last quarter. Maseco LLP bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at $464,000. Finally, CCM Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 167,108 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,228,000 after buying an additional 22,535 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $79.89 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $82.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.23. The company has a market cap of $199.54 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $116.26.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The company had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is 49.92%.

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.

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