Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Price Down 1.5% – What’s Next?

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s share price traded down 1.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $87.60 and last traded at $88.44. 2,601,258 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 15,819,583 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.76.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.12.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $91.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.53. The firm has a market cap of $218.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.13). Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The firm had revenue of $15.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 48.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $88.25 per share, with a total value of $250,012.25. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $258,837.25. This trade represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $209,562.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $628,864.60. This represents a 24.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MRK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,979,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,192 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,606,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,474 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after purchasing an additional 4,932,647 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,072,582,000 after buying an additional 2,026,859 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,479,799,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

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.