Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Price Down 0.1% – Here’s Why

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) shares fell 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $99.36 and last traded at $99.92. 2,698,411 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 9,267,084 shares. The stock had previously closed at $100.06.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.20.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $114.34. The company has a market cap of $251.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.86, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.92%.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Goldstein Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% in the second quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 3,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. JB Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 92,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,402,000 after purchasing an additional 2,248 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 62,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,747,000 after purchasing an additional 2,422 shares in the last quarter. Avalon Capital Management increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.5% during the second quarter. Avalon Capital Management now owns 8,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,052,000 after buying an additional 2,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 27.5% during the second quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 8,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,004,000 after buying an additional 1,750 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently 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.