Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Issues FY25 Earnings Guidance

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) updated its FY25 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $8.88 to $9.03 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.13. The company issued revenue guidance of $64.1 billion to $65.6 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $67.07 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 8.880-9.030 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MRK. Hsbc Global Res raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE MRK traded down $1.06 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $88.61. The company had a trading volume of 2,630,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,801,747. The company has a market capitalization of $224.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.33 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $99.31 and its 200 day moving average is $107.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $15.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.