Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of $8.53-8.65 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $8.56. The company issued revenue guidance of $63.1-64.3 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $63.81 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 8.530-8.650 EPS.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK traded up $0.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $131.19. 7,757,292 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,336,532. The company has a market capitalization of $332.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 937.07, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $126.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.88. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Berenberg Bank raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a b+ rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $131.33.

Insider Activity

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

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.