Baker Boyer National Bank Sells 393 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Baker Boyer National Bank trimmed its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,356 shares of the company’s stock after selling 393 shares during the period. Baker Boyer National Bank’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $443,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,331,676,000 after buying an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,966,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,152 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,632,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,151 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,479,071,000 after purchasing an additional 228,578 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. 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 research report on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $132.98 on Tuesday. 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 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.31. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.70. The firm has a market cap of $336.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 147.76, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.