Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Rating Lowered to Hold at Daiwa America

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) was downgraded by research analysts at Daiwa America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on MRK. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $100.76 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.73. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $98.60 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $254.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merck & Co., Inc.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,874,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,121,372,000 after acquiring an additional 114,080 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $952,402,000 after acquiring an additional 64,996 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $855,119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,095,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 7,517,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $853,739,000 after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is 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.