First Horizon Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 179,065 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,121 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $20,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howe & Rusling Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 20,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,283,000 after acquiring an additional 893 shares during the period. Hilton Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the third quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC now owns 48,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,541,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 1,353,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,718,000 after acquiring an additional 29,422 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,376,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 651.8% during the third quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,674,000 after acquiring an additional 12,781 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $96.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.39. The stock has a market cap of $244.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

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.