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.
View MRK analyst ratings or view top-rated stocks.

17 Wall Street research 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 anticipate the company's stock price to reach $115.41 in the next twelve months. This suggests a possible upside of 12.1% from the stock's current price.
View analysts price targets for MRK or view top-rated stocks among Wall Street analysts.

Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock was trading at $110.95 at the start of the year. Since then, MRK shares have decreased by 7.2% and is now trading at $102.94.
View the best growth stocks for 2023 here.

Merck & Co., Inc. saw a decline in short interest in December. As of December 30th, there was short interest totaling 17,210,000 shares, a decline of 16.1% from the December 15th total of 20,510,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 9,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover 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, April 27th 2023.
View our MRK earnings forecast.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) posted its 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 earned $13.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.66 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 44.27% and a net margin of 24.49%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 EPS.
Read the conference call transcript.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared 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 dividend yield of 2.84%. 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 2.82%. 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 34.07% 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 2023 earnings guidance on Thursday, February, 2nd. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $6.80-$6.95 for the period, compared to the consensus 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 variety of retail and institutional investors. Top institutional shareholders 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.
View institutional ownership trends.

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.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

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 $13.05 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.