Conning Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Conning Inc. lowered its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,578 shares of the company’s stock after selling 548 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 48,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after buying an additional 5,337 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the first quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 13,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after buying an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.3% during the first quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 493,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,273,000 after buying an additional 76,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bright Rock Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 26.8% during the first quarter. Bright Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 142,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,746,000 after buying an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $86.02 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $111.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 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.