Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas Sells 228 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas trimmed its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 48,588 shares of the company’s stock after selling 228 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 1.5% of Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 5,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.5% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after buying an additional 6,421 shares during the period. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK traded down $0.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $115.66. 572,875 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,560,556. The company has a market capitalization of $292.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $120.58 and its 200-day moving average is $125.27. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($2.06) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.