Citigroup Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by investment analysts at Citigroup in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $84.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $115.00. Citigroup’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 12.48% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on MRK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, TD Securities lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $74.68 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $83.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.51. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.10, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $3,479,799,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,418,820,000 after buying an additional 29,104,112 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth $991,553,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,213,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,408,763,000 after buying an additional 5,550,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,543,000 after buying an additional 5,060,959 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.