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

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $131.62.

MRK has been the subject of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $109.74 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $277.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.93, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $114.42 and a 200 day moving average of $122.60.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 342.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after acquiring an additional 5,865,948 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at $724,776,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.