Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Earns Peer Perform Rating from Analysts at Wolfe Research

Equities researchers at Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “peer perform” rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup reduced their target price on 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. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $98.31 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $248.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $109.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $97.90 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth $32,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. 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.