NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Merck & Co. (MRK) shares are down -1.2% to $56.40 in pre-market trading after being downgraded to "equalweight" from "overweight" by analysts at Morgan Stanley (MS) on Wednesday.
The downgrade comes on the heels of yesterday's news that German drug maker Bayer AG (BAYRY) had agreed to purchase Merck's consumer care division for $14.2 billion.
The deal makes Bayer one of the largest over-the-counter drug companies in the world as it assumes control of Merck's most popular non-prescription brands.
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