Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 501,959 Shares of Organon & Co. (NYSE:OGN)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Organon & Co. (NYSE:OGN) by 77.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,153,044 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 501,959 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Organon & Co. were worth $17,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in Organon & Co. by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 113,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after buying an additional 710 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Organon & Co. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 163,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,439,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Organon & Co. by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 22,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,194 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of Organon & Co. by 1.5% in the first quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 81,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Organon & Co. by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218 shares during the last quarter. 77.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on OGN. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Organon & Co. from $24.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Organon & Co. from $15.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. BNP Paribas raised Organon & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Organon & Co. from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kirke Weaver bought 8,045 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.21 per share, for a total transaction of $74,094.45. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 52,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $483,423.69. This trade represents a 18.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew M. Walsh purchased 11,400 shares of Organon & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.82 per share, for a total transaction of $100,548.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 144,484 shares in the company, valued at $1,274,348.88. This trade represents a 8.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 102,345 shares of company stock worth $902,430. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Organon & Co. Stock Down 0.8%

OGN opened at $9.94 on Monday. Organon & Co. has a 12 month low of $8.01 and a 12 month high of $23.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $9.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.68. The company has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.60.

Organon & Co. (NYSE:OGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. Organon & Co. had a return on equity of 227.43% and a net margin of 11.92%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Organon & Co. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

Organon & Co. Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Organon & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Organon & Co. Company Profile

Organon & Co is a science based global pharmaceutical company, which develops and delivers innovative health solutions through a portfolio of prescription therapies within women’s health, biosimilars and established brands. The company was founded on March 11, 2020, and is headquartered in Jersey City, NJ.