Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is LSV Asset Management's Largest Position

LSV Asset Management reduced its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 9.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,356,770 shares of the company's stock after selling 631,010 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 1.7% of LSV Asset Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. LSV Asset Management owned approximately 0.25% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $786,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth about $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company's stock worth $10,270,000 after acquiring an additional 4,433 shares during the last quarter. Patron Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company's stock worth $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 30,765 shares of the company's stock worth $3,898,000 after purchasing an additional 2,525 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 247,338 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,636,000 after buying an additional 22,578 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $117.84. The company had a trading volume of 8,577,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,621,607. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $298.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $119.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $125.05.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.