Norwood Financial Corp Buys 200 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Norwood Financial Corp increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,159 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Norwood Financial Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the first quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 101,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,337,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.7% during the first quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $583,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.9% during the first quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the first quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 5,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $694,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $6.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $123.80. The stock had a trading volume of 49,865,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,541,271. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $129.32 and a 200-day moving average of $124.13. 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 company has a market capitalization of $313.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

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.