First Interstate Bank Trims Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

First Interstate Bank lowered its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,354 shares of the company’s stock after selling 708 shares during the quarter. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.5% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after buying an additional 6,421 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 56,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,119,000 after buying an additional 3,119 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 116,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,666,000 after buying an additional 4,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $257,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Barclays cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $115.41 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $119.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.95. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $292.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.23, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS 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 business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.