Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by First County Bank CT

First County Bank CT lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,146 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,059 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 1.3% of First County Bank CT’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.5% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 6,421 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,859,000. Avestar Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 10,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,200,000 after buying an additional 2,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evoke Wealth LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 14,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,637,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $113.08 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $286.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 125.64, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $116.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.06.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s 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.