Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Health Care Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The fund advanced 8.92% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter compared to an 8.52% gain for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index (benchmark) and a 10.56% increase for the S&P 500 Index. The fund rose 13.61% on an annualized basis since its inception on April 30, 2018, compared to an 11.45% gain for the benchmark and a 14.24% gain for the index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Baron Health Care Fund featured stocks like Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in its Q1 2024 investor letter. Headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a global healthcare company. On April 22, 2024, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) stock closed at $126.94 per share. One-month return of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) was 1.13%, and its shares gained 8.93% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has a market capitalization of $321.543 billion.
Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Global pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), Inc. contributed on the continued growth of Keytruda, the company’s key asset and the leading immuno-oncology agent used to treat a variety of cancers. The FDA’s late March approval of pulmonary arterial hypertension drug sotatercept, also drove share gains. We retain conviction as Merck has started to transition from prioritizing its Keytruda franchise to building a more diversified business, with a focus on the Gardasil vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine development, and cardiovascular drug development, well in advance of the scheduled expiration of patent protection/exclusivity rights.”
A close-up of a person’s hand holding a bottle of pharmaceuticals.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) was held by 98 hedge fund portfolios, compared to 85 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We previously discussed Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in another article, where we shared the list of best low volatility stocks to buy according to hedge funds. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
