Sunflower Bank N.A. Sells 685 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sunflower Bank N.A. lowered its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,622 shares of the company’s stock after selling 685 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 0.5% of Sunflower Bank N.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Sunflower Bank N.A.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. NTV Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,893,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,089,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.7 %

MRK opened at $130.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $330.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. 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.