Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Holdings Lessened by First PREMIER Bank

First PREMIER Bank lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,872 shares of the company’s stock after selling 648 shares during the period. First PREMIER Bank’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Cross Staff Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth about $212,000. Kennedy Investment Group increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Societe Generale downgraded 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.7 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $132.98 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $128.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.70. The company has a market capitalization of $336.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 147.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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