UBS Group Lowers Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target to $136.00

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its price objective cut by analysts at UBS Group from $142.00 to $136.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 24.31% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.8 %

MRK stock opened at $109.40 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $277.09 billion, a PE ratio of 121.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,331,676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,333 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,632,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,151 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,551,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,357,000 after buying an additional 212,852 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 12,050,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,313,741,000 after buying an additional 253,981 shares during the period. 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.