Pharmaceutical stock Merck & Co (NYSE:MRK) is up 4% at $101.64 at last glance, after an upgrade from Wells Fargo to "overweight" from "equal weight," with a price-target hike to $125 from $90. The firm cited business development and pipeline progress, no longer seeing a "major cliff" from the loss of Keytruda (a cancer medication) exclusivity.
Today's pop has MRK trading at its highest levels since January, breaking into positive territory for 2025. The stock has added roughly 18% in November, and now sits above all daily moving averages. The equity's 14-day relative strength index (RSI) of 92.8 sits firmly in "overbought" territory, however, meaning a short-term dip could be imminent.
Calls have been more popular than usual in the options pits. MRK's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 3.06 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks higher than 84% of readings from the past year.
These options are reasonably priced at the moment, too. The stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 27% ranks in in the low 15th percentile of its annual range.
