Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Truist Financial

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Truist Financial in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $142.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $139.00. Truist Financial’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 7.85% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.71.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $131.66. 2,990,605 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,684,538. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $124.21 and its 200-day moving average is $112.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $333.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 941.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NTV Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 26,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,841,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 5,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $612,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.