Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Downgraded by Daiwa America to “Hold”

Daiwa America lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of MRK opened at $100.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $98.60 and a one year high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $110.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.73.

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

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

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

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.