Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.13 EPS

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13, Briefing.com reports. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Merck & Co., Inc. updated its FY 2024 guidance to 8.530-8.650 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $8.53-8.65 EPS.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $131.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,756,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,314,732. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $332.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 937.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $115.69.

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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

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.