Truist Financial Corp Sells 1,211,541 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Truist Financial Corp decreased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 36.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,136,260 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,211,541 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.08% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $191,751,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,979,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,192 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after acquiring an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,072,582,000 after buying an additional 2,026,859 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,479,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after buying an additional 4,511,742 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.19.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.7%

MRK traded down $1.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $80.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,734,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,282,113. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $129.93. The stock's 50-day moving average is $79.20 and its 200-day moving average is $86.97.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 43.23%. The business's revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.00%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.16%.

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.