OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Sells 772 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,932 shares of the company’s stock after selling 772 shares during the quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,108,366,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after buying an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 352.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,144,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,814,000 after buying an additional 2,449,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29,914.1% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,410,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,818,000 after buying an additional 2,402,700 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $128.27. 2,147,225 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,368,725. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $128.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $324.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 342.22%.

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.