Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Lynch & Associates IN

Lynch & Associates IN cut its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 90,185 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,431 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 2.7% of Lynch & Associates IN’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Lynch & Associates IN’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $11,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,341,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,024,000 after buying an additional 36,514 shares during the period. Rodgers Brothers Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 79,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,137,000 after purchasing an additional 9,257 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 28,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,889,000 after purchasing an additional 4,507 shares during the last quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 15,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,651,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 1,595,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,257,000 after purchasing an additional 59,234 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.3 %

MRK opened at $129.69 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The firm has a market cap of $328.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.10, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $128.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.07. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend 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.