Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Updates FY22 Earnings Guidance

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) updated its FY22 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $7.24-7.36 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $7.28. The company issued revenue guidance of $56.9-58.1 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $57.19 billion.

Several research firms have commented on MRK. Barclays upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 12th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 28th. SVB Leerink cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $97.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $90.69.

Shares of MRK opened at $86.00 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $217.39 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.45. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.89 and a 52-week high of $91.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $13.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.14 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.02% and a return on equity of 47.24%. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.32 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.2 EPS for the current year.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 26,289,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,044,534,000 after acquiring an additional 3,832,086 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 297,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,781,000 after acquiring an additional 23,053 shares during the last quarter. Privium Fund Management UK Ltd acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,729,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 176.2% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 39,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,996,000 after acquiring an additional 90,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,838,000 after acquiring an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. 72.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile (Get Rating)

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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.

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