OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Has $840,000 Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,704 shares of the company’s stock after selling 546 shares during the period. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $840,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Peterson Wealth Services grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 64.7% in the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 18,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after buying an additional 7,232 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 122,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,425,000 after purchasing an additional 2,544 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 320,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,994,000 after purchasing an additional 17,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Financial Inc grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 25,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,819,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MRK traded down $0.35 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $125.02. 1,207,644 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,249,376. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $126.20 and a 200-day moving average of $114.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $316.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 891.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 2,200.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 price target (up previously from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

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.