Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Lowers Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. trimmed its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,719 shares of the company’s stock after selling 228 shares during the quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $343,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New England Research & Management Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% in the first quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 15,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,085,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Cambridge Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.8% in the first quarter. Cambridge Advisors Inc. now owns 11,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,506,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the period. Asio Capital LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the first quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 35,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,695,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Atwater Malick LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the first quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 726,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,968,000 after purchasing an additional 25,693 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 4.6 %

NYSE MRK opened at $123.80 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $129.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.27. 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. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $313.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

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.