Merck & Co., Inc.’s (MRK) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Cantor Fitzgerald

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

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Berenberg Bank increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $142.00 target price (up from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $125.78 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $126.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The company has a market capitalization of $318.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 898.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 198,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,833,000 after buying an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Everett Harris & Co. CA increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 176,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,348,000 after buying an additional 1,456 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 5,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the period. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at $268,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust Co. VA bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth $7,240,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.