MJP Associates Inc. ADV Grows Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,631 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,513,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,665,601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417,274 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 valued at $7,330,668,000 after purchasing an additional 927,621 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,397,000 after buying an additional 3,542,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $991,553,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total value of $720,044.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,475.02. This trade represents a 25.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $93.00 on Friday. 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 $105.07. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $85.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.40. The firm has a market cap of $230.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.22. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The firm had revenue of $17.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.57 EPS. The firm’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, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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.