Norwood Financial Corp Has $549,000 Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Norwood Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,159 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Norwood Financial Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,270,000 after buying an additional 4,433 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $6.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $123.80. 49,865,559 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,541,271. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $129.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.13. The stock has a market cap of $313.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.56, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for 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 was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid 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 payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.