Morgan Stanley Raises Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target to $102.00

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its price target boosted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 1.66% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on MRK. Wall Street Zen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Citigroup began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Merck & Co., Inc. from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $92.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $100.33 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $249.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.29. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $105.84. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.22. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 29.63% and a return on equity of 44.54%. The firm had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.57 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s 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. Equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 237.4% during the third quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC now owns 307 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Kilter Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 302.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 354 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bare Financial Services Inc raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 51.9% during the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

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.