Meridian Financial LLC Reduces Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Meridian Financial LLC cut its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,297 shares of the company’s stock after selling 849 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 1.1% of Meridian Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Meridian Financial LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $1,207,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 199,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,739,000 after purchasing an additional 7,641 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,584,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,127,000 after buying an additional 28,185 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,775,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,784,000 after buying an additional 61,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC now owns 20,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on MRK. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, HSBC upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $98.00 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.85. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $247.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.