Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on MRK. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $82.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Zacks Research cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.87.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $108.89 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $102.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.34. The company has a market capitalization of $270.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.29. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $112.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.08 by ($0.14). Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 44.54% and a net margin of 29.63%. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.91%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total value of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,054,475.02. This trade represents a 25.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.4% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,865,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,263,991,000 after buying an additional 4,636,183 shares during the period. DLD Asset Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter. DLD Asset Management LP now owns 47,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,986,675,000 after acquiring an additional 11,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,858,570,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.5% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,032,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,139,901,000 after purchasing an additional 5,135,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,013,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,980,084,000 after purchasing an additional 567,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products. Its portfolio spans multiple therapeutic areas with a particular emphasis on oncology, vaccines and infectious disease, as well as therapies for metabolic and chronic conditions. Among its well-known products are the cancer immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil; the company also markets a range of medicines and vaccines for veterinary use through Merck Animal Health.

Founded in the late 19th century as the U.S.