Long-Term Analyst: Buy These 5 Stocks

2. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Rockland Trust’s Stake Value: $37,909,000 

Percentage of Rockland Trust’s 13F Portfolio: 2.62%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 79

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) operates as a leading healthcare company worldwide. Shares of the stock have soared 13.26% year to date, as of September 1. As of June 30, Rockland Trust’s stake in the company is valued at $37.90 million. The investment covers 2.62% of the fund’s investment portfolio.

On July 28, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced earnings for the fiscal second quarter of 2022. The company reported earnings per share of $1.87 and beat estimates by $0.16. The company’s revenue for the quarter amounted to $14.59 billion, up 27.99% year over year, and beat expectations by $731.76 million.

On July 29, Barclays analyst Carter Gould raised his price target on Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) to $101 from $97 and maintained an Overweight rating on the shares. On August 25, Erste Group analyst Hans Engel upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) to Buy from Hold.

At the end of the second quarter of 2022, 79 hedge funds held stakes in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) worth $6.11 billion. This is compared to 84 positions in the previous quarter with stakes worth $5.86 billion.

Here is what Smead Capital Management had to say about Merck & Co., (NYSE:MRK) in its second-quarter 2022 investor letter:

“For the quarter, our best-performing stocks included Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK). Despite a steep sell-off in June in the oil and gas stocks, two of our oil stocks made the quarterly list. Merck’s defensive characteristics and good news on earnings/growth didn’t shock us. We argued one year ago that Merck was historically cheap relative to the indexes as compared to the last 20 years.”