PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Purchases 144,703 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,867,962 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 144,703 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned about 0.31% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $660,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DLD Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $2,889,340,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,858,570,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.5% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,032,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,139,901,000 after buying an additional 5,135,748 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,456,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,540,145,000 after buying an additional 5,094,088 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,865,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,263,991,000 after acquiring an additional 4,636,183 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MRK. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $92.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.71.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $121.39 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $108.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.45. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $123.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.66. The company has a market cap of $301.29 billion, a PE ratio of 16.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.28.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $16.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.19 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 28.08% and a return on equity of 45.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.000-5.150 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.70%.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, CMO Chirfi Guindo sold 10,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.41, for a total value of $1,184,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 70,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,361,522.15. This trade represents a 12.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Johannes Jacobus Oosthuizen sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.87, for a total transaction of $1,828,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 21,197 shares in the company, valued at $2,583,278.39. This represents a 41.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 320,176 shares of company stock valued at $38,281,735 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products. Its portfolio spans multiple therapeutic areas with a particular emphasis on oncology, vaccines and infectious disease, as well as therapies for metabolic and chronic conditions. Among its well-known products are the cancer immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil; the company also markets a range of medicines and vaccines for veterinary use through Merck Animal Health.

Founded in the late 19th century as the U.S.