Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.07 EPS

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc. updated its FY 2024 guidance to 7.720-7.770 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $7.72-7.77 EPS.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $101.87. The company had a trading volume of 10,180,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,858,824. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $98.60 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $112.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a market capitalization of $258.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.39.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.93.

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.