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

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its price objective reduced by Citigroup from $140.00 to $130.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.46.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of 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. The company has a market capitalization of $263.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.29, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.80 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day moving average is $113.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $121.59.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sendero Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the first quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 101,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,337,000 after buying an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Norwood Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% in the first quarter. Norwood Financial Corp now owns 4,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the first quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 726,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,968,000 after acquiring an additional 25,693 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.