Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Rating Reiterated by Cantor Fitzgerald

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $155.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 31.88% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on MRK. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of MRK stock traded up $2.44 on Monday, reaching $117.53. 3,684,964 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,635,235. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $297.68 billion, a PE ratio of 130.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.57.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

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

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 69.6% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,684 shares during the last quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth approximately $506,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth approximately $3,474,000. Lazari Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% in the second quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth approximately $61,256,000. 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.