Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target to $110.00

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its price objective lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. 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 report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.0 %

MRK stock opened at $101.87 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.60 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day moving average is $112.00 and its 200 day moving average is $120.64. The stock has a market cap of $258.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 37.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRK. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 329.4% in the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 13,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,553,000 after acquiring an additional 10,482 shares during the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.6% during the third quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 2,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the third quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 11,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 47,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,405,000 after buying an additional 2,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $487,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.