Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target to $110.00

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 7.97% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on MRK. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $101.88 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $98.60 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $258.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.32% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merck & Co., Inc.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,874,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,121,372,000 after acquiring an additional 114,080 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,362,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,102,135,000 after acquiring an additional 56,644 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $952,402,000 after purchasing an additional 64,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $855,119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,095,694 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

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.