Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Shares Bought by First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,118 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,513,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,665,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,274 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 81,669,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,330,668,000 after purchasing an additional 927,621 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,418,820,000 after purchasing an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,130,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,542,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at $991,553,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE MRK opened at $86.02 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $111.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $214.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.51.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on 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 target price on 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. Berenberg Bank lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.31.

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.