Piper Jaffray Companies set a $70.00 target price on Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in a research report released on Saturday, July 29th. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.
A number of other research firms have also weighed in on MRK. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) reiterated a neutral rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Merck & in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Citigroup Inc. set a $65.00 price target on shares of Merck & and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 5th. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Merck & from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $73.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, May 26th. BidaskClub downgraded shares of Merck & from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a buy rating and issued a $74.00 price target on shares of Merck & in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $69.58.
Merck & (NYSE:MRK) opened at 61.49 on Friday. Merck & has a 52-week low of $58.29 and a 52-week high of $66.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $62.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.83. The company has a market capitalization of $167.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.29 and a beta of 0.80.
Merck & (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $9.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.75 billion. Merck & had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 26.02%. Merck &’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & will post $3.87 earnings per share for the current year.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITY WARNING: This article was first published by StockNewsTimes and is the sole property of of StockNewsTimes. If you are viewing this article on another domain, it was stolen and reposted in violation of United States & international copyright and trademark law. The original version of this article can be read at https://stocknewstimes.com/2017/08/19/piper-jaffray-companies-analysts-give-merck-company-inc-nysemrk-a-70-00-price-target-updated-updated.html.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 6th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. Merck &’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.11%.
Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. WFG Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Merck & by 16.9% in the second quarter. WFG Advisors LP now owns 13,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $864,000 after buying an additional 1,946 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Merck & by 22.4% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,019,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,359,000 after buying an additional 186,774 shares in the last quarter. Afam Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & by 14.5% in the second quarter. Afam Capital Inc. now owns 36,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,356,000 after buying an additional 4,667 shares in the last quarter. Beaton Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & during the second quarter valued at about $1,143,000. Finally, Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & by 2.5% in the second quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 22,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,414,000 after buying an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.46% of the company’s stock.
Merck & Company Profile
Merck & Co, Inc is a global healthcare company. The Company offers health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, Healthcare Services and Alliances. The Company’s Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products marketed either directly by the Company or through joint ventures.
Receive News & Ratings for Merck & Company Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Merck & Company Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
