Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $8.53-8.65 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.56. The company issued revenue guidance of $63.1-64.3 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $63.81 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 8.530-8.650 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a hold rating to a sell rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK traded up $0.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $131.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,757,292 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,336,532. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $126.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.88. The firm has a market cap of $332.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 937.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following 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 through this link. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 directly 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 owned by 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.