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

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $135.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price indicates a potential upside of 7.33% from the company’s current price.

MRK has been the topic of several other reports. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $125.78 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $318.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 898.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. 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. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $126.18 and its 200-day moving average is $115.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 198,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,833,000 after buying an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 176,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,348,000 after acquiring an additional 1,456 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 5,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth $268,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust Co. VA acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth $7,240,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.