Brokerages Set Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Target Price at $129.93

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $130.86.

MRK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $102.92 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $98.60 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $260.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average is $110.74 and its 200-day moving average is $120.03.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current year.

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

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings 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 last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth about $724,776,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $337,450,000 after buying an additional 2,946,742 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after buying an additional 2,473,346 shares during 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.