Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Cut to Hold at Daiwa America

Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

MRK has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $98.31 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $97.90 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $109.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.35. The stock has a market cap of $248.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

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.