First County Bank CT Cuts Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

First County Bank CT cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,349 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,560 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 1.0% of First County Bank CT’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,606,360,000 after buying an additional 1,536,474 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,696,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,296 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,135,785,000 after purchasing an additional 514,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 17,756,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,016,374,000 after purchasing an additional 309,656 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.57.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK traded up $1.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $101.11. The stock had a trading volume of 6,401,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,128,113. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.92%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.