Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Trading Down 0.4% – Here’s What Happened

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s stock price traded down 0.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $97.90 and last traded at $98.23. 2,187,120 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 8,846,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $98.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of 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, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market cap of $248.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $109.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.35.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,659,000. Alerus Financial NA lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the third quarter. Alerus Financial NA now owns 51,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,896,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at about $2,625,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth about $140,000. Finally, B&L Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $621,000. 76.07% of the stock is 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.