Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Shares Sold by Swedbank AB

Key Points

• Swedbank AB reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% in Q2, selling 113,211 shares, while maintaining ownership of 7,874,766 shares, representing 0.7% of its investment portfolio.
• Merck reported a Q2 EPS of $2.13, exceeding expectations of $2.03, with revenues of $15.81 billion, just shy of the $15.92 billion forecast.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, with an annualized yield of 4.0%, and a payout ratio of 49.92%.

Swedbank AB trimmed its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,874,766 shares of the company's stock after selling 113,211 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 0.7% of Swedbank AB's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Swedbank AB owned 0.31% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $623,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Little House Capital LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 25,236 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,998,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the company's stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% during the first quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company's stock worth $1,739,000 after purchasing an additional 3,282 shares during the last quarter. Quilter Plc lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% during the first quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,180,797 shares of the company's stock worth $105,988,000 after purchasing an additional 62,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% during the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company's stock worth $2,997,000 after purchasing an additional 30,335 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MRK. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK traded down $0.12 on Friday, hitting $81.41. 25,594,757 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,066,499. The firm has a market cap of $203.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 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 has a fifty day moving average of $82.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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