Legacy Private Trust Co. Has $3.47 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Legacy Private Trust Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,535 shares during the quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,471,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 78,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,323,000 after acquiring an additional 848 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 36.9% during the 1st quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 3,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 413,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,580,000 after acquiring an additional 12,834 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $130.56 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $330.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.07, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $128.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors 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 2.36%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

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.