Adirondack Trust Co. Reduces Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Adirondack Trust Co. lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,891 shares of the company’s stock after selling 196 shares during the period. Adirondack Trust Co.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% during the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 27.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $110.28 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $279.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $114.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($2.06) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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