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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines. The Animal Health segment discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and health management solutions and services, as well as digitally connected identification, traceability, and monitoring products. It serves drug wholesalers and retailers, hospitals, and government agencies; managed health care providers, such as health maintenance organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, and other institutions; and physicians and physician distributors, veterinarians, and animal producers. The company has collaborations with AstraZeneca PLC; Bayer AG; Eisai Co., Ltd.; Ridgeback Biotherapeutics; and Gilead Sciences, Inc. to jointly develop and commercialize long-acting treatments in HIV. Merck & Co., Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
MRK has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $76.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 18th. Cowen increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, June 27th. Atlantic Securities lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 13th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $102.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 6th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, June 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $97.44.
Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.4 %
Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $89.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.89 and a 1 year high of $95.72. The firm has a market cap of $225.54 billion, a PE ratio of 13.66, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.53.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 28th. The company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.18. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 29.00% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The company had revenue of $14.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 15th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 14th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.27%.