DnB Asset Management AS Increases Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

DnB Asset Management AS grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 684,224 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 78,804 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $78,953,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.3% in the first quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 1,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% in the first quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the first quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 32,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,451,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Veracity Capital LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the first quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 4,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greystone Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the first quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 7,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $755,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. 74.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. HSBC began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, July 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $123.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $102.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “a-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, September 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.74.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,250 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.01, for a total transaction of $463,292.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,500,144.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $108.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $274.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.28. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $84.52 and a one year high of $119.65. The business has a fifty day moving average of $107.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $110.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported ($2.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.18) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $15.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.44 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 16.29% and a net margin of 5.34%. The business’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.87 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 3.03 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 Friday, October 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 239.34%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.