Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Now Covered by Analysts at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in a report issued on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a peer perform rating on the stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on 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. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $2.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $96.31. The company had a trading volume of 16,464,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,910,528. The stock has a market cap of $243.63 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

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

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

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at $32,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors 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.