Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Trading Up 1.3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) rose 1.3% during mid-day trading on Friday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $102.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Merck & Co., Inc. traded as high as $100.66 and last traded at $100.33. Approximately 11,765,992 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 20% from the average daily volume of 14,640,568 shares. The stock had previously closed at $99.01.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, December 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Berenberg Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $90.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,475.02. This represents a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MRK. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,808,000 after acquiring an additional 8,710 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $721,000. Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.7% in the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 35,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,180,000 after purchasing an additional 4,540 shares during the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.6% in the first quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 99,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,942,000 after purchasing an additional 19,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.37. The firm has a market cap of $249.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.22. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 44.54% and a net margin of 29.63%.The firm had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.80%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.