First National Trust Co Has $15.54 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

First National Trust Co cut its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 196,346 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,303 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $15,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Little House Capital LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 25,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% in the first quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,739,000 after buying an additional 3,282 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% in the second quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 888,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,327,000 after buying an additional 79,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 189,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,013,000 after buying an additional 6,930 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, October 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $88.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.60. The company has a market cap of $220.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $105.11.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.