Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target Raised to $135.00

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $130.00 to $135.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on MRK. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a b+ rating to a c+ rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a hold rating to a sell rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $129.71.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.2 %

MRK opened at $131.95 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $124.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The firm has a market cap of $334.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 942.50, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 2,200.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, 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.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 244,776,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,685,561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,228 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 118,562,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,766,428,000 after acquiring an additional 2,174,829 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position 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 valued at $9,331,676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,643,267,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000,816 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,363,385,000 after purchasing an additional 39,289,404 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.