Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Issues FY25 Earnings Guidance

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) issued an update on its FY25 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $8.88 to $9.03 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $9.13. The company issued revenue guidance of $64.1 billion to $65.6 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $67.07 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 8.880-9.030 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $1.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $89.44. The company had a trading volume of 7,953,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,671,794. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $226.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.12. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.33 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.13). Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $15.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.