New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Purchases 14,900 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 146,886 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 14,900 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 0.7% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $19,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 4.6 %

NYSE MRK traded down $6.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $123.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 57,055,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,215,418. The company has a market capitalization of $313.56 billion, a PE ratio of 137.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.27.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.