Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Bard Financial Services Inc.

Bard Financial Services Inc. decreased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 106,078 shares of the company’s stock after selling 450 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 1.5% of Bard Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $13,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% during the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,270,000 after acquiring an additional 4,433 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $128.73. 872,745 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,359,143. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.43. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $326.05 billion, a PE ratio of 143.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. 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. Finally, Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.