Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target Increased to $135.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its price target raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $130.00 to $135.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a hold rating to a sell rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $129.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 5.0 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $131.75 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $333.68 billion, a PE ratio of 941.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,200.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 94.2% in the 1st quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 349,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,683,000 after buying an additional 169,536 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth about $2,423,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 159,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,064,000 after purchasing an additional 9,376 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth about $1,078,000. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 36,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 4,131 shares during the period. 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.