Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Reduces Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,036,969 shares of the company’s stock after selling 37,092 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $82,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 29,104,112 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $991,553,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,543,000 after buying an additional 5,060,959 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,991.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,332,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,880,000 after purchasing an additional 4,289,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 13,077,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,542,036 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $79.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $82.69 and a 200-day moving average of $82.23. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $116.26. The stock has a market cap of $199.54 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%.The company had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 49.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.