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

17 Wall Street equities research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last twelve months. There are currently 4 hold ratings and 13 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street equities research analysts is that investors should "buy" MRK shares.
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17 equities research analysts have issued 12 month price objectives for Merck & Co., Inc.'s shares. Their MRK share price forecasts range from $98.00 to $135.00. On average, they predict the company's share price to reach $114.94 in the next year. This suggests a possible upside of 8.3% from the stock's current price.
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Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock was trading at $110.95 on January 1st, 2023. Since then, MRK stock has decreased by 4.4% and is now trading at $106.09.
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Merck & Co., Inc. saw a drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 30th, there was short interest totaling 17,210,000 shares, a drop of 16.1% from the December 15th total of 20,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.
View Merck & Co., Inc.'s Short Interest.

The company is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, February 2nd 2023.
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Merck & Co., Inc. will be holding an earnings conference call on Thursday, February 2nd at 8:00 AM Eastern. Interested parties can register for or listen to the call using this link.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October, 27th. The company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $13.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.32 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 46.57% and a net margin of 25.88%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS.
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Merck & Co., Inc. announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.73 per share on Monday, April 10th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th.
Read our dividend analysis for MRK.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) pays an annual dividend of $2.92 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.77%. The company has been increasing its dividend for 12 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio is 48.59%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, MRK will have a dividend payout ratio of 40.22% 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. issued an update on its FY 2022 earnings guidance on Thursday, November, 3rd. The company provided EPS guidance of $7.32-$7.37 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.34. The company issued revenue guidance of $58.50 billion-$59.00 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $58.51 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 a number of retail and institutional investors. Top institutional shareholders include Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. (0.33%), New York State Common Retirement Fund (0.19%), Sarasin & Partners LLP (0.12%), New York State Teachers Retirement System (0.12%), Parnassus Investments LLC (0.08%) and Strs Ohio (0.07%). Insiders that own company stock include Caroline Litchfield, Frank Clyburn, Johannes Jacobus Oosthuizen, Julie L Gerberding, Kenneth C Frazier, Richard R Deluca, Rita A Karachun, Robert M Davis, Sanat Chattopadhyay, Steven Mizell 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 $106.09.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has a market capitalization of $268.98 billion and generates $48.70 billion in revenue each year. The company earns $13.05 billion in net income (profit) each year or $6.01 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.