Quant Billionaire Jim Simons Loves These 5 Defensive Stocks

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

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 79     

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) operates as a healthcare company worldwide. Latest data shows that Renaissance Technologies owned 6.7 million shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) at the end of the second quarter of 2022 worth $616 million, representing 0.73% of the portfolio.

On September 14, Berenberg analyst Luisa Hector upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) stock to Buy from Hold and raised the price target to $100 from $95, noting the simple success stories in the pharma sector remained attractive for investors. 

At the end of the second quarter of 2022, 79 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $6.1 billion in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), compared to 84 in the previous quarter worth $5.9 billion.

In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Sound Shore Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“On the positive side, a number of our health care names outperformed, including drug maker Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK). Benefitting from a best-in-class research and development team, Merck’s progress is being fueled by the impressive growth of its immuno oncology cancer drug, Keytruda. The stock remains attractive at less than 12 times 2023 earnings.”