Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target Cut to $130.00

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its target price decreased by Citigroup from $140.00 to $130.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 25.02% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.8 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $103.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.80 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $113.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $121.63. The firm has a market cap of $263.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.29, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 63,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,201,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 42,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,184 shares during the last quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 3,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,090,000 after acquiring an additional 5,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 115.7% in the 3rd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 64,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,395,000 after acquiring an additional 34,706 shares during the last quarter. 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.