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

19 Wall Street equities research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last year. There are currently 8 hold ratings, 10 buy ratings and 1 strong buy rating for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street equities research analysts is that investors should "buy" MRK shares.
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19 Wall Street research analysts have issued 1-year target prices for Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock. Their MRK share price forecasts range from $85.00 to $110.00. On average, they predict the company's share price to reach $97.44 in the next year. This suggests a possible upside of 12.2% 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 $76.64 on January 1st, 2022. Since then, MRK shares have increased by 13.3% and is now trading at $86.87.
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Merck & Co., Inc. saw a increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totaling 19,760,000 shares, an increase of 17.7% from the July 31st total of 16,790,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.
View Merck & Co., Inc.'s Short Interest.

The company is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, October 27th 2022.
View our MRK earnings forecast.

Merck & Co., Inc. will be holding an earnings conference call on Thursday, October 27th at 8:00 AM Eastern. Interested parties can register for or listen to the call using this link.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July, 28th. The company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.20. The company earned $14.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 48.45% and a net margin of 29.00%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 EPS.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share on Friday, October 7th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 14th.
Read our dividend analysis for MRK.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) pays an annual dividend of $2.76 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 3.19%. 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 42.27%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, MRK will have a dividend payout ratio of 38.49% 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, August, 4th. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $7.25-$7.35 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $7.36. The company issued revenue guidance of $57.50 billion-$58.50 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $58.10 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 State Street Corp (4.65%), Northern Trust Corp (1.18%), Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA (1.09%), FMR LLC (0.88%), Deutsche Bank AG (0.86%) and Legal & General Group Plc (0.80%). Insiders that own company stock include Caroline Litchfield, Frank Clyburn, Julie L Gerberding, Kenneth C Frazier, Richard R Deluca, Rita A Karachun, Robert M Davis, Sanat Chattopadhyay 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 $86.87.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has a market capitalization of $220.07 billion and generates $48.70 billion in revenue each year. The company earns $13.05 billion in net income (profit) each year or $6.53 on an earnings per share basis.

The company employs 68,000 workers across the globe.

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

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.