Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 2,807,658 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lessened its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 32.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,939,525 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,807,658 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.23% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $647,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 561,959 shares of the company's stock worth $61,265,000 after buying an additional 8,278 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $236,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,678 shares of the company's stock worth $1,491,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 99,352 shares of the company's stock worth $10,831,000 after buying an additional 2,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,132.7% during the 4th quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC now owns 35,822 shares of the company's stock worth $3,905,000 after buying an additional 32,916 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "b+" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $130.06. 5,722,627 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,266,483. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $126.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.69. The firm has a market cap of $329.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.

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