State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $76.66 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.8%, selling 81,937 shares and now holding 854,069 shares valued at approximately $76.66 million.
• Several brokerages have recently downgraded their price targets for Merck's stock, with Wells Fargo lowering its target from $97.00 to $90.00 and Citigroup reducing its target from $115.00 to $84.00.
• Merck & Co., Inc. announced a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend of $3.24 and a yield of 3.9% as of the scheduled payment date on October 7th.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 854,069 shares of the company's stock after selling 81,937 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $76,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth $27,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth $36,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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 report on Thursday, July 10th. 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 for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK traded up $1.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $84.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,479,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,960,206. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $120.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.69 billion, a PE ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.38. The stock's 50-day moving average is $81.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.31.

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 return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%. The company had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.92 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is 49.92%.

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.