Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $133.00.

MRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th.

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

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.7% during the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 12,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,795 shares during the period. Jackson Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jackson Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,756,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth about $268,000. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth about $11,909,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,517,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,229,000 after purchasing an additional 10,763 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MRK opened at $126.08 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $128.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.39. The company has a market capitalization of $319.34 billion, a PE ratio of 140.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 342.22%.

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.