Wells Fargo & Company Increases Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Price Target to $135.00

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) had its price target increased by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $130.00 to $135.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 2.33% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on MRK. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.71.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE MRK opened at $131.92 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $124.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.52. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $334.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 942.29, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 94.2% during the first quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 349,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,683,000 after purchasing an additional 169,536 shares during the period. BCK Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth $2,423,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 159,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,064,000 after purchasing an additional 9,376 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth $1,078,000. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% during the first quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 36,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 4,131 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.