Chelsea Counsel Co. Sells 15,570 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Key Points

• Chelsea Counsel Co. reduced its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 80.2%, selling 15,570 shares during the 2nd quarter, leaving them with just 3,850 shares valued at $308,000.
• Analysts have downgraded Merck's stock, with Morgan Stanley lowering its price target from $99 to $98 and giving it an "equal weight" rating, while Berenberg Bank and Wells Fargo also cut their ratings and price objectives.
• Merck declared a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, contributing to a 3.9% dividend yield for stockholders of record on September 15th.

Chelsea Counsel Co. decreased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 80.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,850 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,570 shares during the quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co.'s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Little House Capital LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the second quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 25,236 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the first quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the company's stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% during the first quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,739,000 after acquiring an additional 3,282 shares during the last quarter. Quilter Plc boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% during the first quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,180,797 shares of the company's stock valued at $105,988,000 after acquiring an additional 62,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% during the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,997,000 after acquiring an additional 30,335 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 6.8%

Shares of MRK stock opened at $83.96 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $82.55 and a 200-day moving average of $81.71. 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 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $114.79. The firm has a market cap of $209.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.94, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.37.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.92%.

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.

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