Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK Position Increased by APG Asset Management N.V.

APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,685,193 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 29,698 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 0.7% of APG Asset Management N.V.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. APG Asset Management N.V. owned approximately 0.11% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $223,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,513,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,665,601,000 after buying an additional 1,417,274 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 81,669,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,330,668,000 after purchasing an additional 927,621 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,418,820,000 after purchasing an additional 29,104,112 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,121,395,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,742 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 21,547,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,143,571,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791,737 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.3%

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $87.1830 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $217.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.11. 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. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $120.30.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.870-8.970 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.