Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Posted by Andrew Walz on Nov 10th, 2026

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $155.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. DZ Bank cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $153.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $179.00 to $177.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.74.

View Our Latest Report on Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $148.49 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $146.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.82. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $85.80 and a twelve month high of $156.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $366.34 billion, a PE ratio of 48.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.83 and a beta of 0.13.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $18.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.33 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.64% and a return on equity of 16.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 2.84 EPS for the current year.

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

In other news, EVP Jennifer Zachary sold 80,315 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.46, for a total value of $10,718,839.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 45,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,073,631.14. This represents a 63.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard R. Deluca sold 11,699 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.63, for a total transaction of $1,539,939.37. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 110,167 shares in the company, valued at $14,501,282.21. The trade was a 9.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 102,014 shares of company stock valued at $13,608,779 over the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 226,999,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,169,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073,507 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 120,413,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,573,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087,583 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 86,249,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,083,033,000 after purchasing an additional 1,934,312 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 41,699,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,059,345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,183,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 30,774,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,701,831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,919,780 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Merck & Co., Inc.

Here are the key news stories impacting Merck & Co., Inc. this week:

Positive Sentiment: Merck reported positive Phase 2b results for efinopegdutide, an investigational weekly treatment for adults with MASH and stage F2 or F3 liver fibrosis. The findings add a potential new opportunity in liver disease, although the supplied report does not include detailed efficacy results. Article: Merck Announces Positive Results from Phase 2b Trial of Efinopegdutide
Positive Sentiment: Merck has started the Phase 3 ENHANCE-3 trial of OHTUVAYRE for COPD maintenance treatment. Separately, the FDA granted priority review to sacituzumab tirumotecan for endometrial cancer, advancing two potential growth drivers. Article: Merck Starts ENHANCE 3 COPD Trial As Cancer Drug Review Nears
Neutral Sentiment: Merck’s collaboration with Tempus AI is expected to contribute to a five-year partnership value of roughly $192.5 million, providing a data and AI-related research tie-up; the article does not detail the financial impact to Merck. Article: The AI Debt Bill Is Coming Due, But Biotech Has Revenue to Show for the Boom
Negative Sentiment: Analysts describe Merck’s 2027 growth outlook as challenging, citing generic competition, weaker vaccine performance and slowing growth for Keytruda. These pressures could weigh on near-term results, despite the company’s expanding pipeline. Article: MRK’s 2027 Outlook Challenging, Long-Term Prospects Promising

About Merck & Co., Inc.

(Get Free Report)

Merck & Co, Inc is a global pharmaceutical company that develops and markets prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal-health products. The company’s research and commercial activities span areas including oncology, infectious diseases, vaccines, cardiovascular disease and immunology. Its products include the cancer medicine Keytruda and the Gardasil vaccine.

Founded in the United States in 1891, Merck & Co became an independent company in 1917. It is headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and operates internationally.