Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Shares Bought by Perpetual Ltd

Key Points

• Perpetual Ltd increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 24.5% in Q2, now holding $65.24 million worth of shares after purchasing 162,099 additional shares.
• Analysts have lowered price targets for Merck, with ratings including one Strong Buy, six Buy, and thirteen Hold recommendations based on recent updates.
• Merck announced a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, resulting in a 4.0% annual yield, with a payout ratio of 49.92%.

Perpetual Ltd raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 24.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 824,113 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 162,099 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $65,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company's stock worth $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. American Assets Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $398,000. AAF Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. AAF Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the company's stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 4,521 shares of the company's stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 38,518 shares of the company's stock worth $3,832,000 after purchasing an additional 10,212 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of 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. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut 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 note on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $81.41. The stock had a trading volume of 25,594,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,025,118. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.54, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $118.16. The stock's 50 day moving average is $82.79 and its 200 day moving average is $82.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.