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.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Cowen boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 27th. Cowen upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 27th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $76.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 29th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, June 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $97.44.
Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.2 %
MRK Stock opened at $88.49 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $90.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.50. The stock has a market cap of $223.77 billion, a PE ratio of 13.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.72.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $13.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.
Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is presently 42.27%.