United Community Bank Raises Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

United Community Bank grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,256 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 226 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 1.3% of United Community Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. United Community Bank’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,333,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MRK. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued 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 a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.9 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $127.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 643,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,396,154. The company has a market capitalization of $322.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

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