Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Has $50.79 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 447,244 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,101 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 2.4% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $50,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth $42,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% during the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,475.6% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 32,832 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $109.73 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $114.59 and its 200 day moving average is $123.14. The company has a market cap of $277.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.92, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.