Rockland Trust Co. Has $43.49 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 9th, 2023

Rockland Trust Co. cut its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 408,821 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,628 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 2.7% of Rockland Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $43,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,363,385,000 after buying an additional 39,289,404 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $2,736,293,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 72.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,314,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,919,542,000 after buying an additional 11,051,945 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,671.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,099,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $418,400,000 after buying an additional 4,915,334 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,643,267,000 after buying an additional 4,000,816 shares during the period. 76.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.5 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $109.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.44. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $276.58 billion, a PE ratio of 21.29, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.52 and a 52 week high of $119.65.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $14.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.81 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.92% and a net margin of 22.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 6.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, March 13th. Citigroup raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. StockNews.com cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $128.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Rita A. Karachun sold 15,875 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.53, for a total transaction of $1,865,788.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 45,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,372,296.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Sanat Chattopadhyay sold 134,055 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.07, for a total transaction of $15,425,708.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Rita A. Karachun sold 15,875 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.53, for a total value of $1,865,788.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 45,710 shares in the company, valued at $5,372,296.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 488,258 shares of company stock valued at $56,481,018 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

(Free Report)

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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.