Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Leerink Partners upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $127.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. UBS Group raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.32.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $144.82 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.58 and a 1-year high of $156.92. The company has a 50-day moving average of $136.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.55. The company has a market cap of $357.30 billion, a PE ratio of 115.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.26 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 4.77% and a return on equity of 16.73%. The business had revenue of $16.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.660-2.760 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 272.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, EVP Jennifer Zachary sold 80,315 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.46, for a total value of $10,718,839.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 45,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,073,631.14. This represents a 63.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP David Williams sold 52,847 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.77, for a total value of $6,805,108.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,716 shares in the company, valued at $4,084,069.32. The trade was a 62.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 228,238 shares of company stock valued at $29,977,783 over the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12,537.4% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 484,720,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,286,552,000 after acquiring an additional 480,884,635 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 226,999,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,169,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,507 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 86,249,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,083,033,000 after purchasing an additional 1,934,312 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,047,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,307,572,000 after purchasing an additional 249,110 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,997,933,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures, and markets prescription medicines, vaccines, and animal-health products. The company serves patients, healthcare providers, and customers in markets worldwide through its Human Health and Animal Health businesses.

Merck’s pharmaceutical portfolio includes oncology, infectious disease, cardiology, immunology, and other therapeutic areas. Its products include Keytruda, an immunotherapy used to treat various cancers; Gardasil, a vaccine that helps protect against human papillomavirus (HPV); and Januvia, a treatment for type 2 diabetes.