Lbmc Investment Advisors LLC Sells 120 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Lbmc Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,886 shares of the company’s stock after selling 120 shares during the period. Lbmc Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FCF Advisors LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 25.9% during the 1st quarter. FCF Advisors LLC now owns 64,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,518,000 after acquiring an additional 13,266 shares during the period. Anderson Hoagland & Co. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $218,000. City Holding Co. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 18,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,378,000 after acquiring an additional 1,463 shares during the period. Single Point Partners LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $201,000. Finally, Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 571,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,390,000 after acquiring an additional 11,093 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 report on Wednesday, March 27th. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective 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. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE MRK opened at $132.98 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $128.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $336.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 147.76, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.