Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $123.00.

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,450,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,742 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,231,000 after buying an additional 2,610,800 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $611,924,000 after buying an additional 2,194,463 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,696,060,000 after buying an additional 2,134,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.1 %

MRK opened at $95.54 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $241.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its 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 company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.