Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Shares Sold by Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.8% in the second quarter, now holding 52,753 shares valued at approximately $4.18 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings in Merck, with Brighton Jones LLC boosting its position by 29.5% during the fourth quarter.
• Analyst ratings for Merck saw a downgrade from Berenberg Bank from a "buy" to a "hold," alongside a reduced target price from $100 to $90.

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 22.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 52,753 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,614 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company's stock worth $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 48,267 shares of the company's stock worth $4,332,000 after purchasing an additional 5,337 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 13,999 shares of the company's stock worth $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 493,234 shares of the company's stock worth $44,273,000 after purchasing an additional 76,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bright Rock Capital Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 26.8% during the 1st quarter. Bright Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 142,000 shares of the company's stock worth $12,746,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of 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 research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of 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 analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $104.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $86.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $214.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.47 and a 200-day moving average of $81.51. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $111.58.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is 49.92%.

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.

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