Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Trading Down 0.8% - Time to Sell?

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) shares fell 0.8% on Friday . The company traded as low as $97.90 and last traded at $98.74. 3,605,402 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 9,312,410 shares. The stock had previously closed at $99.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday. HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $127.13.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $248.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $102.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.03.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,015 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,409,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. IMS Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.5% in the third quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 14,740 shares of the company's stock worth $1,674,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Syntax Research Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 459.8% in the third quarter. Syntax Research Inc. now owns 12,175 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,383,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. SMART Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 127.8% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 390,353 shares of the company's stock worth $44,328,000 after purchasing an additional 218,980 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

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.