Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Texas Permanent School Fund Corp

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 523,994 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 608 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 0.5% of Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $69,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $3,108,366,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,914 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,966,029,000 after buying an additional 4,731,152 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 352.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,144,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,814,000 after buying an additional 2,449,211 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29,914.1% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,410,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,818,000 after buying an additional 2,402,700 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $129.27. The stock had a trading volume of 185,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,353,976. The firm has a market capitalization of $327.42 billion, a PE ratio of 143.44, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $128.97 and its 200 day moving average is $125.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.