Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Somerset Trust Co

Somerset Trust Co grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,798 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,375 shares during the quarter. Somerset Trust Co’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $561,000. Visionary Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 12,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,412,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 65.5% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 801 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 261,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,552,000 after buying an additional 22,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $203,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.6 %

MRK stock opened at $110.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $279.32 billion, a PE ratio of 122.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 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.