Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 41.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,171 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $25,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 141.7% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth about $48,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $92.94 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.43. 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 stock has a market cap of $230.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $17.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.57 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

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

In other news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,054,475.02. This represents a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.50.

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.