Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their overweight rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $135.00 target price on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a hold rating to a sell rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $129.71.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $131.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $124.75 and a 200-day moving average of $112.66. The company has a market cap of $334.18 billion, a PE ratio of 942.50, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2,200.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,363,385,000 after acquiring an additional 39,289,404 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,108,366,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,671.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,099,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,400,000 after buying an additional 4,915,334 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after buying an additional 4,731,152 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.