Exchange Bank Has $1.35 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Exchange Bank lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,033 shares of the company’s stock after selling 568 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 1.1% of Exchange Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Exchange Bank’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,349,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% during the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,997,000 after purchasing an additional 30,335 shares during the last quarter. Napatree Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,080,000. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 56,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,601,000 after acquiring an additional 8,461 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,477,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,546,000 after acquiring an additional 189,540 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:MRK opened at $80.26 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.55 billion, a PE ratio of 11.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.57.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

Insider Activity

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.