Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Gap Down to $117.84

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $117.84, but opened at $113.15. Merck & Co., Inc. shares last traded at $115.25, with a volume of 1,718,526 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

The stock's 50 day moving average price is $119.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $125.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $292.31 billion, a PE ratio of 130.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company's stock worth $9,331,676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company's stock worth $1,632,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,151 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company's stock worth $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,551,242 shares of the company's stock worth $1,477,357,000 after buying an additional 212,852 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.