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 presently have a $155.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 39.48% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.8 %

MRK traded down $0.95 during trading on Thursday, hitting $111.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,850,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,741,215. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $115.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $281.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 123.43, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% during the 1st quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.