Olistico Wealth LLC Has $339,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Olistico Wealth LLC reduced its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 29.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,284 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,779 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 927,621 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 3,542,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in 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 brokerages have weighed in on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Saturday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $89.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 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 $82.87 and a 200-day moving average of $81.61.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors 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 3.6%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 49.92%.

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.