Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA Has $54.96 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 694,309 shares of the company’s stock after selling 111,246 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $54,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,417,274 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the 1st 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. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,418,820,000 after purchasing an additional 29,104,112 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,130,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,542,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at $991,553,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Berenberg Bank lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE MRK opened at $80.44 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.24. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $118.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $200.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $15.81 billion for 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. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. 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.