Weekly Analysts’ Ratings Changes for Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK)

Several brokerages have updated their recommendations and price targets on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) in the last few weeks:

• 11/15/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. is now covered by analysts at Wolfe Research. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock.
• 11/11/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. was downgraded by analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating.
• 11/11/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. was downgraded by analysts at Daiwa America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating.
• 11/7/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. had its price target lowered by analysts at Truist Financial Co. from $132.00 to $130.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 11/6/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. had its price target lowered by analysts at Guggenheim from $137.00 to $130.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 11/1/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. had its price target lowered by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $150.00 to $136.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 11/1/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. had its price target lowered by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $125.00 to $110.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 11/1/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $123.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 10/25/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. had its price target lowered by analysts at Citigroup Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 10/17/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. is now covered by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock.
• 10/9/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. had its price target lowered by analysts at UBS Group AG from $142.00 to $136.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 10/9/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. had its price target lowered by analysts at Truist Financial Co. from $143.00 to $132.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 10/7/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. had its price target lowered by analysts at Barclays PLC from $142.00 to $140.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 10/3/2024 – Merck & Co., Inc. had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They now have a $155.00 price target on the stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.4 %

MRK opened at $103.04 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $106.13 and a 200 day moving average of $117.24. The company has a market cap of $260.65 billion, a PE ratio of 21.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 64.57%.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.