Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Receives $135.36 Consensus PT from Analysts

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $134.58.

MRK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $115.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $291.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 41.67%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

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.