Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 22,392 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Brown Advisory Inc. cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,267,073 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,392 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned about 0.05% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $100,301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. DLD Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at $2,889,340,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,858,570,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at about $991,553,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.5% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,032,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,139,901,000 after buying an additional 5,135,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.5% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,456,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,540,145,000 after buying an additional 5,094,088 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.1%

MRK stock opened at $99.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $105.84. The company has a market cap of $247.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.18, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.29. The business has a fifty day moving average of $90.86 and a 200-day moving average of $84.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 44.54% and a net margin of 29.63%.The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.57 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.80%.

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

In related news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total value of $720,044.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,475.02. This represents a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MRK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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 note on Tuesday, November 18th. Berenberg Bank downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.38.

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.