Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. Sells 184 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,925 shares of the company’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price target 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. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $123.80 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend yield of 2.49%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.