Osprey Private Wealth LLC Grows Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Osprey Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,325 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Osprey Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after acquiring an additional 8,710 shares during the period. American Assets Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $398,000. Sentinus LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 3,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the period. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,916.3% in the fourth quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 39,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,905,000 after purchasing an additional 38,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Suvretta Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,272,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 report on Wednesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped 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 report on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.7%

NYSE MRK opened at $82.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.99 billion, a PE ratio of 12.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 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. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $119.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $82.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.81.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

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