Peoples Bank OH Lowers Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Peoples Bank OH lowered its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,806 shares of the company’s stock after selling 271 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 0.8% of Peoples Bank OH’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Peoples Bank OH’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 18,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,428,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth approximately $4,949,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 247,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,636,000 after buying an additional 22,578 shares during the period. Patron Partners LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 492,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,044,000 after acquiring an additional 45,350 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank raised 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $127.13. The stock had a trading volume of 643,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,396,154. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $322.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.09, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $128.99 and its 200-day moving average is $125.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 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.