Tritonpoint Wealth LLC Trims Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Key Points

• Tritonpoint Wealth LLC reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.1% in the second quarter, leaving them with 93,515 shares valued at approximately $7.48 million.
• Major hedge funds, including Vanguard and Charles Schwab, have been increasing their positions in Merck, highlighting significant investor interest.
• Analysts have adjusted their price targets for Merck's stock downwards, with a consensus target price of $106.41 and an average rating of "Hold".

Tritonpoint Wealth LLC reduced its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 6.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 93,515 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,028 shares during the period. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $7,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,513,381 shares of the company's stock worth $22,665,601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417,274 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 81,669,651 shares of the company's stock worth $7,330,668,000 after acquiring an additional 927,621 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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 worth $4,418,820,000 after acquiring an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company's stock worth $1,130,397,000 after acquiring an additional 3,542,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth $991,553,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 report on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $78.51 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.90. 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 $196.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend 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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