Pitcairn Co. Sells 3,927 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Pitcairn Co. reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,616 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,927 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Palisade Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the third quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 27,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,102,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. CMG Global Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.0% during the third quarter. CMG Global Holdings LLC now owns 4,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $498,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 345,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,204,000 after purchasing an additional 55,441 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,887,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,425,000 after purchasing an additional 339,724 shares during the period. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 102,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,658,000 after purchasing an additional 7,064 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MRK. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.7 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $99.18 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $250.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.83.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 64.57%.

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.