Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Stewart & Patten Co. LLC

Stewart & Patten Co. LLC lowered its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,629 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,050 shares during the quarter. Stewart & Patten Co. LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 77.2% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,328,000 after purchasing an additional 22,546 shares during the period. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the third quarter. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.1% in the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,025,000 after buying an additional 5,795 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 102,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,639,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the third quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 5,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their price objective 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 3.3 %

MRK stock traded up $4.10 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $127.90. 11,528,431 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,565,867. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.39. The company has a market cap of $323.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 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.