Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Stake Reduced by Kennedy Investment Group

Kennedy Investment Group reduced its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,570 shares of the company’s stock after selling 440 shares during the period. Kennedy Investment Group’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $283,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,418,820,000 after buying an additional 29,104,112 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth $991,553,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,543,000 after acquiring an additional 5,060,959 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,991.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,332,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,880,000 after acquiring an additional 4,289,516 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,397,000 after acquiring an additional 3,542,036 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $79.62 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $198.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.21. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $116.02.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 49.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Berenberg Bank lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.41.

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.