Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Given Buy Rating at Truist Financial

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Truist Financial in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $142.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $139.00. Truist Financial’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 7.85% from the company’s current price.

MRK has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.71.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK traded down $0.09 during trading on Thursday, hitting $131.66. 2,990,605 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,684,538. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The company has a market cap of $333.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 941.64, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $124.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 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.