Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $138.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $142.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $152.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.32. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.58 and a 52 week high of $154.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $128.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $121.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $376.07 billion, a PE ratio of 121.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.58 and a beta of 0.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 16.73% and a net margin of 4.77%.The company had revenue of $16.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.660-2.760 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 272.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Richard R. Deluca sold 11,699 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.63, for a total transaction of $1,539,939.37. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 110,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,501,282.21. The trade was a 9.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP David R. Maraldo sold 18,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.72, for a total transaction of $2,407,836.32. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,248.64. The trade was a 50.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 228,238 shares of company stock worth $29,977,783 in the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,322,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,770,014,000 after buying an additional 2,185,853 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 226,999,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,169,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073,507 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 120,040,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,737,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,859,990 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 86,435,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,098,196,000 after acquiring an additional 11,156,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,047,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,307,572,000 after acquiring an additional 249,110 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Merck & Co., Inc.

Here are the key news stories impacting Merck & Co., Inc. this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Merck and Moderna reported that their personalized cancer therapy met key Phase 3 goals, improving recurrence-free and distant metastasis-free survival for high-risk melanoma patients when added to Keytruda. The result is the first major late-stage win for an mRNA cancer vaccine and strengthens the potential for regulatory approval and broader oncology applications. MRK/MRNA’s Personalized Cancer Therapy Delivers First Phase III Win
• Positive Sentiment: Several Wall Street firms raised their outlooks for MRK: Goldman Sachs increased its price target to $160 and kept a Buy rating, while BMO raised its target to $170 and UBS lifted its target to $175. Morgan Stanley also upgraded the shares to Overweight with a $179 target after the cancer-trial success.
• Positive Sentiment: Investors see Merck’s newer products, acquired assets and pipeline programs as a potential growth cushion against Keytruda’s eventual patent expiration. The company’s expanding portfolio could help diversify revenue beyond its flagship drug. Can Merck’s New Drugs Offer Growth Cushion Ahead of Keytruda LOE?
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually high options activity indicates heightened investor interest and potential volatility, but it does not by itself establish the direction of the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: RBC Capital Markets downgraded Merck to Sector Perform and set a $150 target, arguing that execution risks and the 2028 Keytruda loss of exclusivity are being underestimated. RBC said near-term catalysts are attractive, but the stock’s valuation leaves limited room for additional gains. Merck upgraded at Morgan Stanley after cancer trial win; RBC downgrades
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies separately moved Merck from Strong Buy to Hold. The central concern is that the shares have already rallied substantially on the trial news, making the current valuation appear demanding relative to the remaining patent and execution risks.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products. Its portfolio spans multiple therapeutic areas with a particular emphasis on oncology, vaccines and infectious disease, as well as therapies for metabolic and chronic conditions. Among its well-known products are the cancer immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil; the company also markets a range of medicines and vaccines for veterinary use through Merck Animal Health.

Founded in the late 19th century as the U.S.