Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. significantly increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc., acquiring more than 5 million additional shares, boosting its total ownership to over 5.2 million shares, which constitutes approximately 1.1% of its overall holdings.
• Merck's stock recently had a consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $108.69, according to various analysts who have issued rating changes for the stock.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.81, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.85%, with the next payment scheduled for October 7th.

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 2,240.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,286,801 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 5,060,959 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 1.1% of Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $474,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MRK. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $108.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $84.22 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $128.73. The firm has a market cap of $211.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.39. The company's 50-day moving average is $79.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.