NYSE:MRK - Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Price, Price Target & More

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

Merck & Co., Inc. declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share on Monday, July 9th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 14th. View Merck & Co., Inc.'s Dividend History.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Saturday, December 2nd 2017, which authorizes the company to repurchase $10,000,000,000.00 in shares, according to EventVestor. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May, 1st. The company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. The company earned $10.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.09 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 4.31% and a return on equity of 30.93%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. View Merck & Co., Inc.'s Earnings History.

Merck & Co., Inc. is scheduled to release their next quarterly earnings announcement on Friday, July, 27th 2018. View Earnings Estimates for Merck & Co., Inc..

Merck & Co., Inc. updated its FY18 earnings guidance on Tuesday, May, 1st. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $4.16-4.28 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus EPS estimate of $4.19. The company issued revenue guidance of $41.8-43.0 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $41.86 billion.

18 equities research analysts have issued 12 month price objectives for Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock. Their forecasts range from $58.83 to $72.00. On average, they anticipate Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock price to reach $66.0519 in the next year. This suggests a possible upside of 5.9% from the stock's current price. View Analyst Ratings for Merck & Co., Inc..

18 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last year. There are currently 4 hold ratings and 14 buy ratings for the stock, resulting in a consensus recommendation of "Buy."

Merck & Co., Inc. saw a decline in short interest during the month of June. As of June 29th, there was short interest totalling 17,153,866 shares, a decline of 21.6% from the June 15th total of 21,867,505 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,109,077 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 0.6% of the company's shares are sold short. View Merck & Co., Inc.'s Current Options Chain.

Some companies that are related to Merck & Co., Inc. include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Pfizer (PFE), Novartis (NVS), AbbVie (ABBV), Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Sanofi (SNY), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Eli Lilly And Co (LLY), AstraZeneca (AZN), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Bayer (BAYRY), Celgene (CELG), Allergan (AGN) and Shire (SHPG).

Headlines about MRK stock have been trending somewhat positive this week, Accern reports. The research firm identifies positive and negative media coverage by analyzing more than twenty million news and blog sources. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Merck & Co., Inc. earned a coverage optimism score of 0.05 on Accern's scale. They also gave headlines about the company an impact score of 43.41 out of 100, meaning that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock's share price in the near term.

Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock is owned by a number of of retail and institutional investors. Top institutional shareholders include Fisher Asset Management LLC (0.29%), Swedbank (0.15%), Bank of Montreal Can (0.14%), NN Investment Partners Holdings N.V. (0.08%), Retirement Systems of Alabama (0.08%) and Manning & Napier Group LLC (0.07%). Company insiders that own Merck & Co., Inc. stock include Adam H Schechter, C Robert Kidder, Clark Golestani, Julie L Gerberding, Kenneth C Frazier, Michael J Holston, Patricia F Russo, Rochelle B Lazarus, Thomas H Glocer, Thomas R Cech, Weir Mirian M Graddick and Wendell P Weeks. View Institutional Ownership Trends for Merck & Co., Inc..

MRK stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Hexavest Inc., Hartford Investment Management Co., Meag Munich Ergo Kapitalanlagegesellschaft MBH, Stralem & Co. Inc., Manning & Napier Group LLC, Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc., Radnor Capital Management LLC and Highland Capital Management LLC. Company insiders that have sold Merck & Co., Inc. company stock in the last year include Adam H Schechter, Julie L Gerberding, Michael J Holston, Thomas H Glocer, Weir Mirian M Graddick and Wendell P Weeks. View Insider Buying and Selling for Merck & Co., Inc..

MRK stock was bought by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Bank of Montreal Can, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC, LGT Capital Partners LTD., Retirement Systems of Alabama, Calamos Advisors LLC, DnB Asset Management AS and Welch & Forbes LLC. View Insider Buying and Selling 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, Scottrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

One share of MRK stock can currently be purchased for approximately $62.35.

Merck & Co., Inc. has a market capitalization of $169.70 billion and generates $40.12 billion in revenue each year. The company earns $2.39 billion in net income (profit) each year or $3.98 on an earnings per share basis. Merck & Co., Inc. employs 69,000 workers across the globe.

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]