SVB Leerink Lowers Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target to $97.00

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) had its target price lowered by analysts at SVB Leerink from $100.00 to $97.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. SVB Leerink’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 12.19% from the stock’s current price.

MRK has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 6th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Mizuho began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.69.

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $86.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.82, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $70.89 and a one year high of $91.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.34. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 47.24% and a net margin of 26.02%. The business had revenue of $13.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth $247,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 26,289,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,044,534,000 after purchasing an additional 3,832,086 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% during the third quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 18,332 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,124,000 after purchasing an additional 7,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.2% in the third quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 5,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.05% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile (Get Rating)

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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.

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