BMO Capital Markets Downgrades Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) to Market Perform

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) was downgraded by BMO Capital Markets from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $105.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $136.00. BMO Capital Markets’ target price points to a potential upside of 5.51% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on MRK. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.13.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE MRK opened at $99.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $114.24. The company has a market capitalization of $251.75 billion, a PE ratio of 20.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after acquiring an additional 3,327,404 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,450,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,742 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,231,000 after purchasing an additional 2,610,800 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473,346 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $611,924,000 after buying an additional 2,194,463 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.