Trust Co. of Oklahoma Sells 402 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Trust Co. of Oklahoma decreased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,068 shares of the company’s stock after selling 402 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 68,563,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,294,504,000 after buying an additional 6,546,946 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,218,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,438,036,000 after purchasing an additional 2,879,481 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,643,267,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,816 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,363,385,000 after purchasing an additional 39,289,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.2% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 35,734,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,801,839,000 after purchasing an additional 8,281,942 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “a-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, September 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, September 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $102.00 to $113.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $124.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.01, for a total transaction of $463,292.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,500,144.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE MRK opened at $107.82 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $107.87 and its 200 day moving average is $110.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.52 and a 12 month high of $119.65. The stock has a market cap of $273.60 billion, a PE ratio of 88.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported ($2.06) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.18) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 16.29% and a net margin of 5.34%. The company had revenue of $15.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 6th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 239.34%.

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