NYSE:MRK

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

$86.78

+0.94 (+1.10%)

(As of 09/28/2022 12:00 AM ET)

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Today's Range: $86.20
▼
$87.25
50-Day Range: $84.53
▼
$92.08
52-Week Range: $71.50
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$95.72

Volume: 6.83 million shs
Average Volume: 11.01 million shs
Market Capitalization: $219.84 billion

P/E Ratio: 13.29
Dividend Yield: 3.22%
Price Target: $98.28

Merck & Co., Inc. MarketRank™ Forecast

Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy
2.68 Rating Score
Upside/Downside: 13.2% Upside
$98.28 Price Target
Short Interest: Healthy
0.77% of Shares Sold Short
Dividend Strength: Strong
Based on Four Factors
Sustainability: -2.29
Upright™ Environmental Score
News Sentiment: 0.19
Based on 15 Articles This Week
Insider Trading: N/A
Proj. Earnings Growth: -2.32%
From $7.33 to $7.16 Per Share

Overall MarketRank^™

MarketRank is calculated as an average of available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

2.68 out of 5 stars

Medical Sector

95th out of 1,096 stocks

Pharmaceutical Preparations Industry

30th out of 548 stocks

3.3

Analyst's Opinion

Consensus Rating
Merck & Co., Inc. has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.68, and is based on 11 buy ratings, 7 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.
Price Target Upside/Downside
According to analysts' consensus price target of $98.28, Merck & Co., Inc. has a forecasted upside of 13.2% from its current price of $86.78.
Amount of Analyst Coverage
Merck & Co., Inc. has been the subject of 7 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

3.0

Short Interest

Percentage of Shares Shorted
0.77% of the outstanding shares of Merck & Co., Inc. have been sold short.
Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover
Merck & Co., Inc. has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.2, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.
Change versus previous month
Short interest in Merck & Co., Inc. has recently increased by 0.83%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

4.2

Dividend Strength

Dividend Yield
Merck & Co., Inc. pays a meaningful dividend of 3.22%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.
Dividend Growth
Merck & Co., Inc. has been increasing its dividend for 11 years.
Dividend Coverage
The dividend payout ratio of Merck & Co., Inc. is 42.27%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.
Dividend Sustainability
Based on earnings estimates, Merck & Co., Inc. will have a dividend payout ratio of 38.55% next year. This indicates that Merck & Co., Inc. will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

4.2

Sustainability and ESG

Overall ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Score
Merck & Co., Inc. has received a 60.98% net impact score from Upright. The largest positive contribution comes from its "Physical diseases" impact, which is mostly driven by its "Pembrolizumab", "Clinical research services for infectious diseases", "HPV vaccines", and "DPP-4 inhibitors" products. See details.
Environmental Sustainability
The Environmental Impact score for Merck & Co., Inc. is -2.29.

1.2

News and Social Media Coverage

News Sentiment
Merck & Co., Inc. has a news sentiment score of 0.19. 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 is a lower news sentiment than the 0.78 average news sentiment score of Medical companies.
News Coverage This Week
MarketBeat has tracked 15 news articles for Merck & Co., Inc. this week, compared to 15 articles on an average week.
Search Interest
Only 91 people have searched for MRK on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -40% compared to the previous 30 days.
MarketBeat Follows
Only 58 people have added Merck & Co., Inc. to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -16% compared to the previous 30 days.

1.7

Company Ownership

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling
In the past three months, Merck & Co., Inc. insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.
Percentage Held by Insiders
Only 0.29% of the stock of Merck & Co., Inc. is held by insiders.
Percentage Held by Institutions
73.33% 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.

1.3

Earnings and Valuation

Earnings Growth
Earnings for Merck & Co., Inc. are expected to decrease by -2.32% in the coming year, from $7.33 to $7.16 per share.
Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market
The P/E ratio of Merck & Co., Inc. is 13.29, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 125.44.
Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector
The P/E ratio of Merck & Co., Inc. is 13.29, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Medical sector average P/E ratio of about 123.40.
Price to Earnings Growth Ratio
Merck & Co., Inc. has a PEG Ratio of 1.16. 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 5.73. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

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About Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock

Merck & Co., Inc. operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines. The Animal Health segment discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and health management solutions and services, as well as digitally connected identification, traceability, and monitoring products. It serves drug wholesalers and retailers, hospitals, and government agencies; managed health care providers, such as health maintenance organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, and other institutions; and physicians and physician distributors, veterinarians, and animal producers. The company has collaborations with AstraZeneca PLC; Bayer AG; Eisai Co., Ltd.; Ridgeback Biotherapeutics; and Gilead Sciences, Inc. to jointly develop and commercialize long-acting treatments in HIV. Merck & Co., Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey.

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