Morton Community Bank Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Morton Community Bank boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,604 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.1% of Morton Community Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,913,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,270,000 after buying an additional 4,433 shares in the last quarter. Patron Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 30,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,898,000 after acquiring an additional 2,525 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 247,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,636,000 after acquiring an additional 22,578 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of MRK traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $117.84. The company had a trading volume of 8,577,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,621,607. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $119.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.07.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio 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.