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

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its price objective trimmed by Guggenheim from $137.00 to $130.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

MRK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $102.92 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.03. The stock has a market cap of $260.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $98.60 and a 52 week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current year.

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

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,858,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,609,000 after buying an additional 112,549 shares during the period. Tradewinds LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,777,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. German American Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth approximately $206,000. Cypress Capital Group raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.9% in the third quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 45,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,210,000 after buying an additional 1,292 shares during the period. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth $896,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.