Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Shares Sold by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

Key Points

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BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S decreased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 41.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 210,235 shares of the company's stock after selling 146,844 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $18,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Semus Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the first quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the company's stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% during the first quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company's stock worth $1,739,000 after buying an additional 3,282 shares during the period. Quilter Plc increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% during the first quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,180,797 shares of the company's stock worth $105,988,000 after buying an additional 62,933 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% during the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company's stock worth $2,997,000 after buying an additional 30,335 shares during the period. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.8% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 56,566 shares of the company's stock worth $5,118,000 after buying an additional 6,850 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 topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $1.1030 during trading on Friday, reaching $87.1830. The company had a trading volume of 11,973,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,391,381. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $81.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.14. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $120.30.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion for 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. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.