Nottingham Advisors Inc. Sells 1,976 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Nottingham Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 52.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,976 shares during the period. Nottingham Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 58.5% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 4,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,792 shares during the last quarter. Farmers Trust Co. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 4,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $647,000 after buying an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% in the first quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 6,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the first quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 30,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,071,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montecito Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.7% during the first quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 20,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.42 during trading on Thursday, reaching $110.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,116,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,728,899. The stock has a market cap of $278.61 billion, a PE ratio of 122.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $114.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($2.06) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.62.

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.