Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) Stock Forecast & Price Target

$151.51 -0.69 (-0.45%)

As of 01:48 PM Eastern

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Merck & Co., Inc. - Analysts' Recommendations and Stock Price Forecast (2026)

Consensus Rating

Moderate Buy

Based on 23 Analyst Ratings

Sell
0

Hold
8

Buy
15

Based on 23 Wall Street analysts who have issued ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last 12 months, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy." Out of the 23 analysts, 8 have given a hold rating, and 15 have given a buy rating for MRK.

Consensus Price Target

$142.10
-6.21% Downside

According to the 23 analysts' twelve-month price targets for Merck & Co., Inc., the average price target is $142.10. The highest price target for MRK is $179.00, while the lowest price target for MRK is $90.00. The average price target represents a forecasted downside of -6.21% from the current price of $151.51.

MarketBeat calculates consensus analyst ratings for stocks using the most recent rating from each Wall Street analyst that has rated a stock within the last twelve months. Each analyst's rating is normalized to a standardized rating score of 1 (sell), 2 (hold), 3 (buy) or 4 (strong buy). Analyst consensus ratings scores are calculated using the mean average of the number of normalized sell, hold, buy and strong buy ratings from Wall Street analysts. Each stock's consensus analyst rating is derived from its calculated consensus ratings score (0 to .5 = Strong Sell, .5 to 1 = Sell, 1 to 1.5 = Reduce, 1.5 to 2.5 = Hold, 2.5 to 3.0 = Moderate Buy, 3.0 to 3.5 = Buy, >3.5 = Strong Buy). MarketBeat's consensus price targets are a mean average of the most recent available price targets set by each analyst that has set a price target for the stock in the last twelve months. MarketBeat's consensus ratings and consensus price targets may differ from those calculated by other firms due to differences in methodology and available data.

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MRK Analyst Ratings Over Time

Type	Current Forecast 8/20/25 to 8/20/26	1 Month Ago 7/21/25 to 7/21/26	3 Months Ago 5/22/25 to 5/22/26	1 Year Ago 8/20/24 to 8/20/25
Strong Buy	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)
Buy	15 Buy rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)
Hold	8 Hold rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)
Sell	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Sell rating(s)
Consensus Price Target	$142.10	$133.94	$128.18	$107.44
Forecasted Upside	-6.21% Downside	6.08% Upside	4.59% Upside	26.89% Upside
Consensus Rating	Moderate Buy	Moderate Buy	Moderate Buy	Hold

MRK Analyst Recommendations By Month

The chart below shows how a company's ratings by analysts have changed over time. Each bar represents the previous year of ratings for that month. Within each bar, the sell ratings are shown in red, the hold ratings are shown in yellow, the buy ratings are shown in green, and the strong buy ratings are shown in dark green.

MRK Price Targets by Month

The chart below shows how a company's share price and consensus price target have changed over time. The dark blue line represents the company's actual price. The lighter blue line represents the stock's consensus price target. The even lighter blue range in the background of the two lines represents the low price target and the high price target for each stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock vs. The Competition

Type	Merck & Co., Inc.	Healthcare Companies	Broader Market
Consensus Rating Score	2.65	2.30	2.53
Consensus Rating	Moderate Buy	Hold	Moderate Buy
Predicted Upside	-7.27% Downside	766.75% Upside	12.36% Upside
News Sentiment Rating	Positive News See Recent MRK News	Positive News	Positive News

Recent Analyst Forecasts and Stock Ratings

Rating

Upside/Downside

Action

Time Frame

Start Date

End Date

Show

Export

Date	Brokerage	Analyst	Action	Rating	Price Target	Report Date Upside/Downside
8/20/2026	BMO Capital Markets 3 of 5 stars	Evan David Seigerman 3 of 5 stars	Boost Target	Outperform	$142.00 ➝ $170.00	+12.49%
8/20/2026	UBS Group 4 of 5 stars	Michael Yee Not Rated	Boost Target	Buy	$145.00 ➝ $175.00	+15.34%
8/20/2026	Royal Bank Of Canada 3 of 5 stars	Trung Huynh Not Rated	Reiterated Rating	Outperform ➝ Sector Perform	$142.00 ➝ $150.00	-1.45%
8/20/2026	Morgan Stanley Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Terence Flynn Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Upgrade	Equal Weight ➝ Overweight	$116.00 ➝ $179.00	+17.60%
8/19/2026	Jefferies Financial Group Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Downgrade	Strong-Buy ➝ Hold
8/12/2026	Daiwa Securities Group Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Upgrade	Neutral ➝ Outperform	$143.00	+9.71%
8/11/2026	Weiss Ratings Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Downgrade	Hold (C) ➝ Hold (C-)
8/11/2026	Argus Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Jasper Hellweg Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Buy	$130.00 ➝ $145.00	+10.92%
8/5/2026	Guggenheim Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Vamil Divan Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Buy	$145.00 ➝ $146.00	+13.81%
7/29/2026	Barclays Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Emily Field Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Overweight	$140.00 ➝ $150.00	+13.77%
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7/13/2026	JPMorgan Chase & Co. Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Chris Schott Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Overweight	$135.00 ➝ $140.00	+13.12%
7/8/2026	Wells Fargo & Company Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Mohit Bansal Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Overweight	$145.00 ➝ $150.00	+16.40%
7/6/2026	Cantor Fitzgerald Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Carter Gould Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Reiterated Rating	Neutral	$120.00	-7.22%
6/30/2026	Bank of America Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Tim Anderson Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Buy	$130.00 ➝ $141.00	+9.87%
6/30/2026	Scotiabank Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Louise Chen Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Sector Outperform	$136.00 ➝ $155.00	+22.02%
6/24/2026	CICC Research Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Initiated Coverage	Outperform	$138.00	+14.65%
5/6/2026	Citigroup Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Geoff Meacham Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Initiated Coverage	Neutral	$125.00	+9.91%
3/17/2026	Zacks Research Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Upgrade	Strong Sell ➝ Hold
2/13/2026	Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	James Shin Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Upgrade	Hold ➝ Buy	$150.00	+25.78%
1/20/2026	TD Cowen Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Steve Scala Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Hold	$100.00 ➝ $120.00	+10.33%
1/8/2026	Wolfe Research Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Alexandria Hammond Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Upgrade	Peer Perform ➝ Outperform	$135.00	+24.40%
12/2/2025	The Goldman Sachs Group Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Terence Flynn Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Buy	$92.00 ➝ $120.00	+19.12%
9/17/2025	Berenberg Bank Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Luisa Hector Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Downgrade	Buy ➝ Hold	$100.00 ➝ $90.00	+11.02%
2/10/2025	TD Securities Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Downgrade	Buy ➝ Hold	$121.00 ➝ $100.00	+15.45%
1/13/2025	Leerink Partners Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Daina Graybosch Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Lower Target	Outperform	$136.00 ➝ $119.00	+19.31%
1/8/2025	Truist Financial Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Reiterated Rating	Buy ➝ Hold	$130.00 ➝ $110.00	+8.88%
12/4/2024	HSBC Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Upgrade	Hold ➝ Buy	$130.00	+27.65%
10/17/2024	Sanford C. Bernstein Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Courtney Breen Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Initiated Coverage	Market Perform	$115.00	+4.14%

Analyst ratings data on MarketBeat is provided by Benzinga and other data providers. This page was last refreshed on Thursday at 02:11 PM ET.

Should I Buy Merck & Co., Inc. Stock? MRK Pros and Cons Explained

These pros and cons were generated based on recent news and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate insights. They were last updated on Wednesday, August 12, 2026. Please send any questions or comments about these Merck & Co., Inc. pros and cons to contact@marketbeat.com.

Merck & Co., Inc.
Bull Case

Here are some ways that investors could benefit from investing in Merck:

Merck has recently raised its FY 2026 earnings guidance, indicating strong future performance potential with an EPS range of 2.660-2.760.
The company has a robust portfolio, including the latest cancer immunotherapy, Keytruda, which continues to receive positive trial results and approvals, enhancing its market position.
Merck's current stock price is around $138, reflecting a strong market presence and investor confidence, supported by a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts.
The company has a solid revenue growth trajectory, with a recent quarterly revenue of $16.61 billion, surpassing analyst expectations and showing a year-over-year increase.
Merck offers a quarterly dividend of $0.85 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $3.40, which provides a yield of 2.6%, appealing to income-focused investors.

Merck & Co., Inc.
Bear Case

Investors should be bearish about investing in Merck for these reasons:

Merck's dividend payout ratio is currently at 272.00%, which may raise concerns about sustainability, as it indicates that the company is paying out more in dividends than it earns.
Despite positive developments, the stock has seen significant insider selling, with executives offloading over 86,000 shares recently, which could signal a lack of confidence in the stock's short-term performance.
The net margin of 4.77% suggests that while revenue is growing, profitability may be under pressure, which could impact future earnings and investor returns.
Market volatility in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors could pose risks to Merck's stock performance, especially if broader market conditions worsen.
Analysts have mixed ratings, with some holding a "Hold" rating, indicating that not all market participants are convinced of the stock's upside potential at current levels.

MRK Forecast - Frequently Asked Questions

According to the research reports of 23 Wall Street equities research analysts, the average twelve-month stock price forecast for Merck & Co., Inc. is $142.10, with a high forecast of $179.00 and a low forecast of $90.00.

23 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last year. There are currently 8 hold ratings and 15 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "moderate buy" MRK shares.

According to analysts, Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock has a predicted downside of -6.21% based on their 12-month stock forecasts.

Over the previous 90 days, Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock had 2 upgrades and 2 downgrades by analysts.

Merck & Co., Inc. has been rated by research analysts at Argus, Bank of America, Barclays, BMO Capital Markets, Cantor Fitzgerald, CICC Research, Daiwa Securities Group, Guggenheim, Jefferies Financial Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank Of Canada, Scotiabank, UBS Group, Weiss Ratings, and Wells Fargo & Company in the past 90 days.

Analysts like Merck & Co., Inc. more than other "healthcare" companies. The consensus rating for Merck & Co., Inc. is Moderate Buy while the average consensus rating for "healthcare" companies is Hold. Learn more on how MRK compares to other companies.

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This page (NYSE:MRK) was last updated on 8/20/2026 by MarketBeat.com Staff.

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Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) Stock Forecast & Price Target

Merck & Co., Inc. - Analysts' Recommendations and Stock Price Forecast (2026)

Consensus Rating

Consensus Price Target

MRK Analyst Ratings Over Time

MRK Analyst Recommendations By Month

MRK Price Targets by Month

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock vs. The Competition

Recent Analyst Forecasts and Stock Ratings

Should I Buy Merck & Co., Inc. Stock? MRK Pros and Cons Explained

Merck & Co., Inc.
Bull Case

Merck & Co., Inc.
Bear Case

MRK Forecast - Frequently Asked Questions

Stock Forecasts and Research Tools

Today's Analyst Ratings

Top-Rated Stocks

More Ratings Tools

Brokerages With Merck & Co., Inc. Recommendations

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Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) Stock Forecast & Price Target

Merck & Co., Inc. - Analysts' Recommendations and Stock Price Forecast (2026)

Consensus Rating

Consensus Price Target

MRK Analyst Ratings Over Time

MRK Analyst Recommendations By Month

MRK Price Targets by Month

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock vs. The Competition

Recent Analyst Forecasts and Stock Ratings

Should I Buy Merck & Co., Inc. Stock? MRK Pros and Cons Explained

Merck & Co., Inc. Bull Case

Merck & Co., Inc. Bear Case

MRK Forecast - Frequently Asked Questions

What is Merck & Co., Inc.'s forecast for 2026?

Should I buy or sell Merck & Co., Inc. stock right now?

Does Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock price have much downside?

Has Merck & Co., Inc. been upgraded or downgraded by Wall Street analysts recently?

What analysts cover Merck & Co., Inc.?

Do Wall Street analysts like Merck & Co., Inc. more than its competitors?

Stock Forecasts and Research Tools

Today's Analyst Ratings

Top-Rated Stocks

More Ratings Tools

Brokerages With Merck & Co., Inc. Recommendations

MarketBeat All Access Features

Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring

Stock Ideas and Recommendations

Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools

Merck & Co., Inc.
Bull Case

Merck & Co., Inc.
Bear Case