Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Research Coverage Started at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a peer perform rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on MRK. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $96.31 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $243.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merck & Co., Inc.

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,606,360,000 after buying an additional 1,536,474 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,696,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,296 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,135,785,000 after purchasing an additional 514,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 17,756,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,016,374,000 after purchasing an additional 309,656 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

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.