Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Bath Savings Trust Co

Bath Savings Trust Co lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,357 shares of the company’s stock after selling 182 shares during the quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at $1,428,000. Stokes Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% in the third quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 13,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,344,000 after buying an additional 1,170 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.5% in the third quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 952,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,019,000 after buying an additional 98,502 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.7% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 25,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after buying an additional 3,319 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% in the third quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 837,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,192,000 after buying an additional 55,376 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Berenberg Bank upped their price target 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. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. One investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $127.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $324.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $128.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.02. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.