Appleton Partners Inc. MA Reduces Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Appleton Partners Inc. MA trimmed its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,869 shares of the company’s stock after selling 525 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $623,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Little House Capital LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 25,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,739,000 after acquiring an additional 3,282 shares during the period. Quilter Plc lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,180,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,988,000 after acquiring an additional 62,933 shares during the period. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% during the 1st quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,997,000 after acquiring an additional 30,335 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on MRK shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Berenberg Bank downgraded 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 note on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $88.83 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $111.58. The company has a market capitalization of $221.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $82.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.