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

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $7.94-$8.04 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $8.16. The company issued revenue guidance of $63.4-$64.4 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $64.29 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 7.940-8.040 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $135.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $11.93 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $115.85. 21,269,484 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,387,621. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $293.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.68.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

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.