Baird Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its stock holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 25.8%, selling 499,779 shares, leaving them with approximately 1.4 million shares valued at $129 million.
• Significant changes in holdings were noted among other hedge funds, with Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increasing their stake by 144.6%, acquiring over 29 million shares valued at approximately $4.4 billion.
• Merck reported an EPS of $2.13 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.81, providing a yield of 3.9%.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 25.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,438,922 shares of the company's stock after selling 499,779 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.06% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $129,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 29,104,112 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at about $991,553,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 5,060,959 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,991.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,332,446 shares of the company's stock valued at $388,880,000 after acquiring an additional 4,289,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 21,547,758 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,143,571,000 after acquiring an additional 3,791,737 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MRK. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 research report on Thursday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE MRK opened at $84.13 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.00. 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. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $120.30. The firm has a market cap of $210.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

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.

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