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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a b+ rating to a c+ rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a hold rating to a sell rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $131.19. 7,757,292 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,336,532. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.88. The firm has a market cap of $332.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 937.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

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.