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

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. 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. Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $127.01 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $126.26 and its 200 day moving average is $115.59. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $321.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 907.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MRK. Barclays increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $142.00 target price (up from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $131.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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