Carnegie Investment Counsel Increases Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,733 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,684 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,606,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,474 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after buying an additional 3,327,404 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,696,060,000 after buying an additional 2,134,296 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,135,785,000 after buying an additional 514,060 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 17,756,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,016,374,000 after buying an additional 309,656 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Truist Financial reissued a "hold" rating and set a $110.00 price target (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK traded down $2.70 on Friday, reaching $98.00. 15,879,862 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,381,323. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.85. The firm has a market cap of $247.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.92%.

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.