Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by First Financial Bank Trust Division

First Financial Bank Trust Division lessened its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,707 shares of the company’s stock after selling 663 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Capital International Investors increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,865,948 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth $724,776,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,331,676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $112.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $283.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day moving average is $115.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.