Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stake Trimmed by Bowman & Co S.C.

Bowman & Co S.C. lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,118 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,851 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 1.1% of Bowman & Co S.C.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Bowman & Co S.C.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,200,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. State Street Corp boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,606,360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536,474 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,608,914,000 after acquiring an additional 3,327,404 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,696,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,296 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,135,785,000 after acquiring an additional 514,060 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 17,756,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,016,374,000 after acquiring an additional 309,656 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price target (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of MRK opened at $98.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $100.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

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.