Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Issues FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of 8.530-8.650 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 8.560. The company issued revenue guidance of $63.1 billion-$64.3 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $63.8 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. also updated its FY24 guidance to $8.53-8.65 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MRK. StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $131.20. 7,757,091 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,336,531. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $126.34 and a 200-day moving average of $115.69. The stock has a market cap of $332.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 937.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.