BMO Capital Markets Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Price

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its price objective trimmed by BMO Capital Markets from $150.00 to $136.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on MRK. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $101.88. The stock had a trading volume of 10,180,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,858,824. The firm has a market cap of $258.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $98.60 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The business has a fifty day moving average of $112.29 and a 200 day moving average of $120.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors increased its position 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 valued at $794,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,865,948 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position 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 valued at $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at about $724,776,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,450,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,742 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473,346 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.