Is it a Good Choice to Invest in Merck & Co. (MRK)?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy” second quarter 2022 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the strategy underperformed its Russell 1000 Value benchmark Index. The second quarter was highly volatile due to changes in interest rates, fears of recession, and the war. The health care and real estate sectors contributed positively to the fund’s performance, whereas the financials, IT, and industrials sectors underperformed. For more information on the fund’s top picks in 2022, please check its top five holdings.

In the second quarter investor letter, ClearBridge Investments discussed the performance of its ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy portfolio. In the quarter, the fund added stocks like Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK). Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a health care company, headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey, and has a market capitalization of $226.779 billion. The stock of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) closed at $89.52 per share on August 9, 2022. One-month return of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) was -4.36%, and its 12-month return jumped to 19.06%.

Here’s how ClearBridge Investments mentioned Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the Q2, 2022 investor letter:

“For the quarter, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) was one of the top contributors, receiving positive approvals for several of its drugs and taking action to secure its pipeline in the years ahead through M&A.”

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Although  ClearBridge Investments invested in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), it is not on the list of  30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) was held by 84 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first quarter, which was 80 in the previous quarter.

We discussed Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in another article and shared Sound Shore Fund’s views about the company. You can check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2022 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other prominent investors.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.