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

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their overweight rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in a report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $155.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on MRK. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a hold rating to a sell rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a b+ rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $127.99 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $324.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.21, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 342.22%.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $3,108,366,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after buying an additional 5,865,948 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at about $724,776,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.