Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,069 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,058 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 141.7% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $86.30 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $109.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.56 billion, a PE ratio of 13.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 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 firm 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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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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