Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target Cut to $132.00

by · The Markets Daily

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) had its price objective cut by Truist Financial from $143.00 to $132.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

MRK has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America decreased 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 note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $133.00.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on MRK

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $109.73 on Wednesday. The firm 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. 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 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.14.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors 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 yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,847,000 after acquiring an additional 5,865,948 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $724,776,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,331,676,000 after buying an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,782,000 after buying an additional 2,473,346 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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