Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Reduces Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC trimmed its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,456,998 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,891 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 0.6% of Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned about 0.06% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $192,251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 12,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,795 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at about $12,087,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.4% during the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 4,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.2% in the third quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 90,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,298,000 after buying an additional 9,083 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at about $2,427,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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 report on Wednesday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE MRK opened at $128.20 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $324.71 billion, a PE ratio of 142.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.38.

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 the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.