Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Position Increased by Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton

Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 36.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,033 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,349 shares during the quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,418,820,000 after buying an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at about $991,553,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,543,000 after buying an additional 5,060,959 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,130,397,000 after buying an additional 3,542,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at about $258,267,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Berenberg Bank lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $84.82 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $211.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.67 and its 200-day moving average is $81.42. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $111.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.92%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.