Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Merck & Co., Inc. is a global healthcare company that develops and markets prescription medicines, vaccines, and animal-health products. The company serves patients, healthcare providers, and customers in markets around the world, with research and commercial operations spanning multiple geographic regions.

Its pharmaceutical portfolio includes oncology, infectious-disease, cardiovascular, immunology, and other therapeutic areas. Key products include Keytruda, an oncology treatment; Gardasil, a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine; Januvia and Janumet for type 2 diabetes; Bridion for anesthesia-related use; and Winrevair for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Merck also operates an animal-health business that provides veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and health-management solutions for livestock and companion animals.

Founded in 1891, Merck & Co. is headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey. It is a separate company from Merck KGaA, the Germany-based healthcare and life-sciences company. Robert M. Davis has served as Merck & Co.’s chairman and chief executive officer since 2021.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $143.15 to $144.30
• 50-Day Range: $127.72 to $156.54
• 52-Week Range: $82.01 to $156.92
• Volume: 879,758 shs
• Average Volume: 10.67 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $352.66 billion
• P/E Ratio: 114.28
• Dividend Yield: 2.38%
• Price Target: $145.76
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Merck & Co., Inc. scored higher than 71% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 233rd out of 892 stocks in the healthcare sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Merck & Co., Inc. has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.59, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 16 buy ratings, 11 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for Merck & Co., Inc. is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Merck & Co., Inc. has been the subject of 22 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 248.19%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Merck & Co., Inc. are expected to grow by 248.19% in the coming year, from $2.76 to $9.61 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Merck & Co., Inc. is 115.15, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 38.80.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Merck & Co., Inc. is 115.15, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Healthcare sector average P/E ratio of about 272.64.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Merck & Co., Inc. has a PEG Ratio of 6.33. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Merck & Co., Inc. has a P/B Ratio of 6.77. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.40% of the float of Merck & Co., Inc. has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Merck & Co., Inc. has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.23.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Merck & Co., Inc. has recently increased by 13.68%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Merck & Co., Inc. pays a meaningful dividend of 2.34%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Merck & Co., Inc. has been increasing its dividend for 14 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Merck & Co., Inc. is 272.00%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Merck & Co., Inc. will have a dividend payout ratio of 35.38% next year. This indicates that Merck & Co., Inc. will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.1 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.43

News Sentiment

Merck & Co., Inc. has a news sentiment score of 0.43. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Healthcare companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 34 news articles for Merck & Co., Inc. this week, compared to 9 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 43 people have searched for MRK on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -43% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 30 people have added Merck & Co., Inc. to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -12% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Merck & Co., Inc. insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $29,977,783.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.17% of the stock of Merck & Co., Inc. is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

76.07% of the stock of Merck & Co., Inc. is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 7/8 Dividend: 6/15/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 7/8 Dividend: 6/15/2026
• Dividend Payable: 7/08/2026
• Last Earnings: 8/04/2026
• Record date for 10/7 Dividend: 9/15/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 10/7 Dividend: 9/15/2026
• Today: 10/02/2026
• Dividend Payable: 10/07/2026
• Investor update: 10/26/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 10/29/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Healthcare
• Industry: Pharmaceuticals
• Sub-Industry: Pharmaceuticals
• Current Symbol: NYSE:MRK
• CIK: 310158
• Web: www.merck.com
• Phone: (908) 740-4000
• Fax: 908-735-1253
• Employees: 75,000
• Year Founded: 1891

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Merck & Co., Inc.: $145.76
• High Price Target: $180.00
• Low Price Target: $92.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +1.3%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.59
• Research Coverage: 27 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $1.25
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 114.96
• Forward P/E Ratio: 52.12
• P/E Growth: 6.33
• Net Income: $18.25 billion
• Net Margins: 4.77%
• Pretax Margin: 8.94%
• Return on Equity: 16.73%
• Return on Assets: 6.13%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.22
• Current Ratio: 1.32
• Quick Ratio: 1.10

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $65.01 billion
• Price / Sales: 5.46
• Cash Flow: $11.31 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 12.72
• Book Value: $21.22 per share
• Price / Book: 6.78

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 2,467,170,000
• Free Float: 2,462,978,000
• Market Cap: $354.88 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.21