John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Sells 600 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. reduced its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,199 shares of the company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 2.0% of John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $12,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at about $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $10,270,000 after acquiring an additional 4,433 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. 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 report on Friday, April 26th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research 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 given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:MRK traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $129.48. 551,279 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,356,726. The stock has a market cap of $327.95 billion, a PE ratio of 143.44, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $128.97 and a 200 day moving average of $125.43.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 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.