Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Now Covered by Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Merck & Co., Inc.'s FY2025 earnings at $9.01 EPS.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on MRK. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $111.13.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $1.19 on Tuesday, reaching $79.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,459,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,829,172. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.93 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $201.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $209,562.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,085 shares in the company, valued at $628,864.60. The trade was a 24.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Inge G. Thulin acquired 2,833 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $88.25 per share, with a total value of $250,012.25. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $258,837.25. The trade was a 2,833.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company's stock worth $24,979,041,000 after buying an additional 1,292,192 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after buying an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company's stock worth $6,072,582,000 after buying an additional 2,026,859 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,479,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company's stock worth $3,121,395,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,742 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.