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

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $8.53-8.65 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS 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.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $127.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.59. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $321.72 billion, a PE ratio of 907.21, 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, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $131.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.