Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $111.13.

A number of research firms have recently commented on MRK. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,479,799,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,213,537 shares of the company's stock worth $2,408,763,000 after acquiring an additional 5,550,824 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company's stock worth $8,032,217,000 after acquiring an additional 4,932,647 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company's stock worth $1,151,642,000 after acquiring an additional 4,480,007 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.6 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $83.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.81 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.93 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The business's revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.

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