Merck & Co., Inc. - MRK Stock Forecast, Price & News

19 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last twelve months. There are currently 7 hold ratings, 11 buy ratings and 1 strong buy rating for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "buy" MRK shares.
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19 Wall Street research analysts have issued 12 month target prices for Merck & Co., Inc.'s shares. Their MRK share price forecasts range from $85.00 to $110.00. On average, they predict the company's stock price to reach $98.28 in the next twelve months. This suggests a possible upside of 13.2% from the stock's current price.
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Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock was trading at $76.64 at the beginning of 2022. Since then, MRK stock has increased by 13.2% and is now trading at $86.78.
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Merck & Co., Inc. saw a increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totaling 19,760,000 shares, an increase of 17.7% from the July 31st total of 16,790,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 10,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.
View Merck & Co., Inc.'s Short Interest.

The company is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, October 27th 2022.
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Merck & Co., Inc. will be holding an earnings conference call on Thursday, October 27th at 8:00 AM Eastern. Interested parties can register for or listen to the call using this link.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July, 28th. The company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $14.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.85 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 48.45% and a net margin of 29.00%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share on Friday, October 7th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 14th.
Read our dividend analysis for MRK.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) pays an annual dividend of $2.76 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 3.15%. The company has been increasing its dividend for 11 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio is 42.27%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, MRK will have a dividend payout ratio of 38.55% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.
Read our dividend analysis for MRK.

Merck & Co., Inc. updated its FY 2022 earnings guidance on Thursday, August, 4th. The company provided EPS guidance of $7.25-$7.35 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.36. The company issued revenue guidance of $57.50 billion-$58.50 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $58.10 billion.

1,343 employees have rated Merck & Co., Inc. Chief Executive Officer Kenneth C. Frazier on Glassdoor.com. Kenneth C. Frazier has an approval rating of 94% among the company's employees. This puts Kenneth C. Frazier in the top 30% of approval ratings compared to other CEOs of publicly-traded companies.

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some companies that other Merck & Co., Inc. investors own include Pfizer (PFE), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), AT&T (T), Intel (INTC), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Walt Disney (DIS), Verizon Communications (VZ), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), AbbVie (ABBV) and Home Depot (HD).

Merck & Co., Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "MRK."

Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock is owned by many different retail and institutional investors. Top institutional investors include State Street Corp (4.65%), Northern Trust Corp (1.18%), Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA (1.09%), FMR LLC (0.88%), Deutsche Bank AG (0.86%) and Legal & General Group Plc (0.80%). Insiders that own company stock include Caroline Litchfield, Frank Clyburn, Julie L Gerberding, Kenneth C Frazier, Richard R Deluca, Rita A Karachun, Robert M Davis, Sanat Chattopadhyay and Wendell P Weeks.
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Shares of MRK stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include WeBull, Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.
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One share of MRK stock can currently be purchased for approximately $86.78.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has a market capitalization of $219.84 billion and generates $48.70 billion in revenue each year. The company earns $13.05 billion in net income (profit) each year or $6.53 on an earnings per share basis.

The company employs 68,000 workers across the globe.

Merck & Co., Inc.'s mailing address is 2000 GALLOPING HILL ROAD, KENILWORTH NJ, 07033. The official website for the company is www.merck.com. The company can be reached via phone at (908) 740-4000, via email at investor_relations@merck.com, or via fax at 908-735-1253.