Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $228.15 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,293,388 shares of the company's stock after selling 64,589 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 0.9% of Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado's holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado owned approximately 0.09% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $228,146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $3,479,799,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,213,537 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,408,763,000 after acquiring an additional 5,550,824 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after acquiring an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,151,642,000 after acquiring an additional 4,480,007 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 19,872,444 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,976,911,000 after acquiring an additional 3,823,283 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $110.00 price target (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $111.13.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $83.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,235,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,917,617. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.93 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $87.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market cap of $209.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.07 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $209,562.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,085 shares in the company, valued at $628,864.60. The trade was a 24.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Inge G. Thulin bought 2,833 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $88.25 per share, for a total transaction of $250,012.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $258,837.25. The trade was a 2,833.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.