State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Sells 13,538 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System decreased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,438,983 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,538 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $193,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 38,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 6,315 shares in the last quarter. DLD Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at $2,889,340,000. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.4% during the second quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 6,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.5% in the second quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 63,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,034,000 after acquiring an additional 4,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.4% in the second quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 4,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MRK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.06.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $104.71 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. 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 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $105.84.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $17.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.57 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 44.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.