Truist Financial Boosts Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target to $143.00

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at Truist Financial from $142.00 to $143.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Truist Financial’s target price indicates a potential upside of 8.92% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on MRK. TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $131.29. 3,220,235 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,278,946. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $115.69. The company has a market cap of $332.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 937.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,331,676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,333 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,152 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,074,048,000 after buying an additional 1,186,842 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $3,108,366,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,632,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,151 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.