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

11 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last twelve months. There are currently 3 hold ratings and 8 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "buy" Merck & Co., Inc. stock.
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Wall Street analysts have given Merck & Co., Inc. a "Buy" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Merck & Co., Inc. wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.
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Merck & Co., Inc. saw a increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 22,070,000 shares, an increase of 17.2% from the May 31st total of 18,830,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.
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Merck & Co., Inc. is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Tuesday, October 26th 2021.
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Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July, 28th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $1.31. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 11.48% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 53.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS.
View Merck & Co., Inc.'s earnings history.

Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock was trading at $79.25 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, MRK shares have decreased by 3.6% and is now trading at $76.41.
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Merck & Co., Inc. announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share on Thursday, October 7th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 14th.
View Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend history.

Merck & Co., Inc. pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 3.38%. Merck & Co., Inc. does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio of Merck & Co., Inc. is 43.77%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, Merck & Co., Inc. will have a dividend payout ratio of 41.40% next year. This indicates that Merck & Co., Inc. will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.
View Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend history.

Merck & Co., Inc. issued an update on its FY 2021 earnings guidance on Thursday, July, 29th. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $5.470-$5.570 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus earnings per share estimate of $6.150. The company issued revenue guidance of $46.40 billion-$47.40 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $48.59 billion.

11 brokers have issued 1-year price targets for Merck & Co., Inc.'s shares. Their forecasts range from $76.79 to $105.00. On average, they anticipate Merck & Co., Inc.'s share price to reach $94.72 in the next twelve months. This suggests a possible upside of 24.0% from the stock's current price.
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1,343 employees have rated Merck & Co., Inc. CEO Kenneth C. Frazier on Glassdoor.com. Kenneth C. Frazier has an approval rating of 94% among Merck & Co., Inc.'s employees. This puts Kenneth C. Frazier in the top 30% of approval ratings compared to other CEOs of publicly-traded companies.

Some companies that are related to Merck & Co., Inc. include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Pfizer (PFE), Eli Lilly and (LLY), AbbVie (ABBV), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Zoetis (ZTS), Royalty Pharma (RPRX), Horizon Therapeutics Public (HZNP), Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ), Perrigo (PRGO), Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR), Pacira BioSciences (PCRX), Corcept Therapeutics (CORT), Supernus Pharmaceuticals (SUPN) and Endo International (ENDP).
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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), The Walt Disney (DIS), Verizon Communications (VZ), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), AbbVie (ABBV) and The 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 institutional and retail investors. Top institutional investors include Fisher Asset Management LLC (0.41%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. (0.35%), Alliancebernstein L.P. (0.28%), New York State Common Retirement Fund (0.22%), Sarasin & Partners LLP (0.14%) and Victory Capital Management Inc. (0.11%). Company insiders that own Merck & Co., Inc. stock include Frank Clyburn, Julie L Gerberding, Richard R Deluca, Robert M Davis, Sanat Chattopadhyay 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 GSB Wealth Management LLC, Alliancebernstein L.P., Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc., Unigestion Holding SA, Ziegler Capital Management LLC, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank , State of Michigan Retirement System, and Exchange Traded Concepts LLC. Company insiders that have sold Merck & Co., Inc. company stock in the last year include Frank Clyburn, Robert M Davis, and Sanat Chattopadhyay.
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MRK stock was purchased by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Victory Capital Management Inc., Sarasin & Partners LLP, Fisher Asset Management LLC, MUFG Securities EMEA plc, OLD Republic International Corp, AIA Group Ltd, Smead Capital Management Inc., and Advisors Asset Management Inc..
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Shares of MRK 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 $76.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. has a market capitalization of $193.47 billion and generates $47.99 billion in revenue each year. The company earns $7.07 billion in net income (profit) each year or $5.94 on an earnings per share basis.

Merck & Co., Inc. employs 74,000 workers across the globe.

Merck & Co., Inc. was founded in 1891.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. is headquartered at 2000 GALLOPING HILL ROAD, KENILWORTH NJ, 07033.

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]