Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Rating Reiterated by Cantor Fitzgerald

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $155.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target indicates a potential upside of 30.99% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on MRK. UBS Group reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $118.33 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $121.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $299.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,270,000 after buying an additional 4,433 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 145,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,870,000 after buying an additional 16,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patron Partners LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. 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.