Trust Co. of Virginia VA Sells 4,912 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Trust Co. of Virginia VA decreased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 62,038 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,912 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Virginia VA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,331,676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,333 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,966,029,000 after purchasing an additional 4,731,152 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,632,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,151 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,479,071,000 after purchasing an additional 228,578 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRK. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $6.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $123.80. 57,055,458 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,215,418. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $129.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.13. The company has a market cap of $313.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 payout ratio 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.