Cairn Investment Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 9th, 2023

Cairn Investment Group Inc. reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) by 8.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 327 shares during the quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,363,385,000 after purchasing an additional 39,289,404 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,736,293,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 72.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,314,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,919,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,051,945 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,671.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,099,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,400,000 after purchasing an additional 4,915,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,643,267,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,816 shares during the last quarter. 76.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, April 10th. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 3rd. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $120.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, March 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert M. Davis sold 143,329 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.93, for a total transaction of $16,472,801.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 271,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,239,927.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Sanat Chattopadhyay sold 134,055 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.07, for a total transaction of $15,425,708.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert M. Davis sold 143,329 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.93, for a total value of $16,472,801.97. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,239,927.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 488,258 shares of company stock valued at $56,481,018. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $109.00 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $84.52 and a one year high of $119.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $276.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.29, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.35.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 22.52% and a return on equity of 37.92%. The business had revenue of $14.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.81 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 57.03%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

(Free Report)

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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.