Strong Tower Advisory Services Acquires 1,589 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Strong Tower Advisory Services increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,591 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,589 shares during the quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Brucke Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.6% during the second quarter. Brucke Financial Inc. now owns 4,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 1,174 shares during the period. JB Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.9% during the second quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 114,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,085,000 after acquiring an additional 8,414 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 52,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,169,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the period. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the second quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. now owns 10,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $821,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $243,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 report on Thursday, July 10th. Berenberg Bank downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 report on Wednesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $86.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $214.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $111.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $83.47 and a 200-day moving average of $81.51.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 49.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.