Zacks Research Issues Pessimistic Estimate for MRK Earnings

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q4 2024 earnings estimates for shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report issued on Thursday, November 21st. Zacks Research analyst S. Ganoria now anticipates that the company will post earnings of $1.82 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $1.93. The consensus estimate for Merck & Co., Inc.’s current full-year earnings is $7.73 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Merck & Co., Inc.’s Q1 2025 earnings at $2.22 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.42 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.43 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.09 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $9.16 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $2.34 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.62 EPS and Q3 2026 earnings at $2.65 EPS.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on MRK. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $101.62 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.34. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $257.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.30, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.92%.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,332,000 after acquiring an additional 5,088 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after buying an additional 1,048 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 237.4% in the 1st quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 76,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,079,000 after buying an additional 53,748 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Oxford Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at $1,594,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% 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.