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.
Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.5 %
NYSE:MRK traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $90.58. 34,208 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,643,757. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 28th. The company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $14.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.85 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 29.00% and a return on equity of 48.45%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current year.
Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced 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 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.27%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research firms have recently commented on MRK. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 6th. Atlantic Securities lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 13th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, June 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised 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 research note on Friday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $76.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 18th. Eight 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $97.44.