Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target Cut to $125.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $130.00 to $125.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock.

MRK has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Daiwa America lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $97.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $246.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.44, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. 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 50 day moving average price of $99.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.34. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.