BLB&B Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

BLB&B Advisors LLC decreased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 43,212 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,301 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peoples Financial Services CORP. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 22,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,803,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Saiph Capital LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Saiph Capital LLC now owns 3,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587 shares of the company’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 note on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.3%

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $86.30 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $105.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.37. 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 50 day simple moving average of $84.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.75.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.22. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The business had revenue of $17.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.57 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. On average, analysts predict 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.