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

17 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last year. There are currently 4 hold ratings and 13 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "buy" MRK shares.
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17 Wall Street analysts have issued 12-month price targets for Merck & Co., Inc.'s shares. Their MRK share price forecasts range from $98.00 to $135.00. On average, they expect the company's share price to reach $115.41 in the next year. This suggests a possible upside of 12.1% from the stock's current price.
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Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock was trading at $110.95 at the beginning of 2023. Since then, MRK stock has decreased by 7.2% and is now trading at $102.94.
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Merck & Co., Inc. saw a drop in short interest during 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 currently 1.8 days.
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The company is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, April 27th 2023.
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Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February, 2nd. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.66 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 24.49% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 44.27%. The company's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 EPS.
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Merck & Co., Inc. announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.73 per share on Monday, April 10th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date 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 2.84%. 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 51.14%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, MRK will have a dividend payout ratio of 34.35% 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. updated its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Thursday, February, 2nd. The company provided EPS guidance of $6.80-$6.95 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $7.36. The company issued revenue guidance of $57.20 billion-$58.70 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $58.07 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 institutional and retail investors. Top institutional investors include Fisher Asset Management LLC (0.48%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. (0.33%), DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale (0.19%), New York State Common Retirement Fund (0.19%), Capital Wealth Planning LLC (0.14%) and Sarasin & Partners LLP (0.12%). 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 $102.94.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has a market capitalization of $260.99 billion and generates $59.28 billion in revenue each year. The company earns $14.52 billion in net income (profit) each year or $5.71 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.