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

Key Points

• Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. has reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.7%, selling 11,817 shares in the second quarter, leaving it with 109,774 shares valued at approximately $8.69 million.
• Merck reported earnings of $2.13 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, although its revenue of $15.81 billion fell short of the consensus estimate.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, with a current yield of 3.8% and a payout ratio of 49.92%.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 9.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,774 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,817 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,417,274 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 927,621 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 29,104,112 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,542,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth about $991,553,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.7%

MRK opened at $86.02 on Monday. 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 $214.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.42. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $111.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business 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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note 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 for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $104.31.

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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