Sava Infond d.o.o. Has $3.21 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Key Points

• Sava Infond d.o.o. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.3% during the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 40,570 shares valued at approximately $3.21 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. and Pacer Advisors Inc., significantly raised their stakes in Merck, highlighting a trend of increased institutional interest in the company.
• Merck's most recent earnings report showed an EPS of $2.13, exceeding analysts' expectations, while the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share.

Sava Infond d.o.o. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 16.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,570 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,700 shares during the quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o.'s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,418,820,000 after acquiring an additional 29,104,112 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $991,553,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company's stock valued at $474,543,000 after acquiring an additional 5,060,959 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,130,397,000 after acquiring an additional 3,542,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at approximately $258,267,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MRK. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Finally, Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:MRK opened at $89.25 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $111.58. The company's 50 day moving average is $82.87 and its 200-day moving average is $81.69. The firm has a market cap of $222.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 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. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $15.81 billion for 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. 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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