National Pension Service Has $473.35 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Key Points

• The National Pension Service increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% in the first quarter, now owning over 5.2 million shares valued at approximately $473 million.
• Merck reported earnings of $2.13 per share last quarter, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $15.81 billion, which was slightly below expectations.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 4.0%, with a payout ratio of nearly 50%.

National Pension Service grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,273,483 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 312,035 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.21% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $473,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on 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, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $1.59 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $84.35. The stock had a trading volume of 10,479,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,518,918. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $81.07 and a 200-day moving average of $83.61. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $120.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $210.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. Equities research 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 declared 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 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.