Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 11,817 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 109,774 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,817 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. waypoint wealth counsel boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 164.7% in the second quarter. waypoint wealth counsel now owns 8,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 5,481 shares during the period. Inman Jager Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.7% in the second quarter. Inman Jager Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,367,000 after buying an additional 1,811 shares during the period. GFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 60.0% in the second quarter. GFS Advisors LLC now owns 131,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,434,000 after buying an additional 49,440 shares during the period. Natural Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.5% in the second quarter. Natural Investments LLC now owns 13,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after buying an additional 1,188 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 26.1% in the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock 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 given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $86.02 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $111.58. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 currently 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.