Bourgeon Capital Management LLC Acquires 10,748 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 160,906 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,748 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 2.5% of Bourgeon Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $12,737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 29,104,112 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $991,553,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,543,000 after purchasing an additional 5,060,959 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,542,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $258,267,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MRK. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $78.46 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.69. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $195.98 billion, a PE ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $114.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.