Cascade Investment Group Inc. Acquires New Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Key Points

• Cascade Investment Group Inc. acquired 3,074 shares of Merck & Co., Inc., valued at approximately $243,000, during the 2nd quarter.
• Merck reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.13, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a net margin of 25.79%.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $3.24 and a dividend yield of 3.7%.

Cascade Investment Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,513,381 shares of the company's stock worth $22,665,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,274 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 81,669,651 shares of the company's stock worth $7,330,668,000 after purchasing an additional 927,621 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company's stock worth $4,418,820,000 after purchasing an additional 29,104,112 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company's stock worth $1,130,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,542,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth approximately $991,553,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of MRK stock opened at $87.38 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $111.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $83.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.53. 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 company has a market cap of $218.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. As a group, equities 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 paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is 49.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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 analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $104.31.

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.

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