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

Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock was trading at $79.25 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, MRK shares have increased by 8.3% and is now trading at $85.81.
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13 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last year. There are currently 2 hold ratings and 11 buy ratings for the stock, resulting in a consensus recommendation of "Buy."
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Merck & Co., Inc. is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Tuesday, November 3rd 2020.
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Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July, 31st. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.23. The company earned $10.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.52 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 22.20% and a return on equity of 52.94%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share.
View Merck & Co., Inc.'s earnings history.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share on Wednesday, October 7th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 14th.
View Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend history.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, October 25th 2018, which permits the company to buyback $10,000,000,000.00 in outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. issued an update on its FY20 earnings guidance on Friday, July, 31st. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $5.63-5.78 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $5.31. The company issued revenue guidance of $47.2-48.7 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $47.33 billion.

13 equities research analysts have issued 1 year price targets for Merck & Co., Inc.'s shares. Their forecasts range from $89.00 to $105.00. On average, they expect Merck & Co., Inc.'s share price to reach $94.54 in the next twelve months. This suggests a possible upside of 10.2% from the stock's current price.
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News articles about MRK stock have trended somewhat positive on Saturday, according to InfoTrie Sentiment Analysis. The research group identifies negative and positive media coverage by analyzing more than six thousand blog and news sources in real time. The firm ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative five to five, with scores closest to five being the most favorable. Merck & Co., Inc. earned a media sentiment score of 2.0 on InfoTrie's scale. They also assigned news articles about the company a news buzz of 0.0 out of 10, indicating that recent media coverage is extremely unlikely to have an impact on the company's share price in the near future.
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Merck & Co., Inc. saw a drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 11,800,000 shares, a drop of 13.9% from the July 30th total of 13,700,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 9,150,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.
View Merck & Co., Inc.'s Short Interest.

Some companies that are related to Merck & Co., Inc. include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Pfizer (PFE), AbbVie (ABBV), Eli Lilly And Co (LLY), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Zoetis (ZTS), Horizon Therapeutics (HZNP), Royalty Pharma (RPRX), Mylan (MYL), Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ), Perrigo (PRGO), Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR), Pacira Biosciences (PCRX), Corcept Therapeutics (CORT) and Zogenix (ZGNX).
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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), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Verizon Communications (VZ), 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 a variety of institutional and retail investors. Top institutional shareholders include Vanguard Group Inc. (8.41%), BlackRock Inc. (7.81%), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (1.25%), Nordea Investment Management AB (0.73%), FMR LLC (0.51%) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. (0.50%). Company insiders that own Merck & Co., Inc. stock include Adam H Schechter, Ashley Watson, Frank Clyburn, Julie L Gerberding, Kenneth C Frazier, Leslie A Brun, Merck & Co, Inc, Richard R Deluca, Rita A Karachun, Robert M Davis, Roger M Perlmutter, Sanat Chattopadhyay, Thomas H Glocer and Wendell P Weeks.
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MRK stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Vanguard Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Marshall Wace North America L.P., Toronto Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Thornburg Investment Management Inc., CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC, and Victory Capital Management Inc.. Company insiders that have sold Merck & Co., Inc. company stock in the last year include Frank Clyburn, Julie L Gerberding, Sanat Chattopadhyay, and Wendell P Weeks.
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MRK stock was acquired by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Nordea Investment Management AB, Point72 Asset Management L.P., Sarasin & Partners LLP, Epoch Investment Partners Inc., Ceredex Value Advisors LLC, BlackRock Inc., TD Asset Management Inc., and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc..
View insider buying and selling activity for Merck & Co., Inc..

Shares of MRK can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.

One share of MRK stock can currently be purchased for approximately $85.81.

Merck & Co., Inc. has a market capitalization of $217.03 billion and generates $46.84 billion in revenue each year. The company earns $9.84 billion in net income (profit) each year or $5.19 on an earnings per share basis. Merck & Co., Inc. employs 71,000 workers across the globe.

The official website for Merck & Co., Inc. is www.merck.com.

Merck & Co., Inc.'s mailing address is 2000 GALLOPING HILL ROAD, KENILWORTH NJ, 07033. The company can be reached via phone at 908-740-4000 or via email at [email protected]