Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 523,994 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 608 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 0.5% of Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $69,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Finally, Berenberg Bank increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $0.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $129.27. The stock had a trading volume of 185,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,353,976. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $327.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.44, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $128.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.43.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.