Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stake Increased by Montecito Bank & Trust

Montecito Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,820 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,117 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.3 %

MRK stock opened at $129.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $328.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $128.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.07. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.