Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) saw an upside of 0.30% to close Tuesday at $106.41 after adding $0.32 on the day. The 5-day average trading volume is 8,405,380 shares of the company’s common stock. It has gained $108.14 in the past week and touched a new high 1 time within the past 5 days. An average of 7,942,315 shares of the company has been traded in the last 20 days, and the 50-day average volume stands at 7,986,660.
MRK’s 1-month performance is -3.23% or -$2.59 on its low of $104.42 reached on 08/07/23. The company’s shares have touched a 52-week low of $84.52 and high of $119.65, with the stock’s rally to the 52-week high happening on 05/03/23. YTD, MRK has lost -4.09% or -$4.54 and has reached a new high 10 times. However, the current price is down -11.07% from the 52-week high price.
Insider Transactions
MRK stock investors last saw insider trading activity on Aug 03.MIZELL STEVEN (EVP, Chief HR Officer) most recently sold 4,500 shares at $105.49 per share on Aug 03. This transaction cost the insider $474,701. President, Human Health Int?l, Romanelli Joseph, sold 59 shares at a price of $107.37 on Aug 02. Then, on Aug 02, President, Human Health Int?l Romanelli Joseph sold 30 shares at a price of $107.37 per share. This transaction amounted to $3,221.
Valuation Metrics
MRK stock has a beta of 0.34. Moving on to other valuation ratios, the trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is 4.66 while the price-to-book (PB) in the most recent quarter is 5.77, with the price to cash flow ratio at 35.33.
Merck & Co. Inc.’s quick ratio for the period ended June 29 was 1.20, with the current ratio over the same period at 1.40. As well, the company’s long term debt to equity for the quarter ending June 29 was 0.60, while the total debt to equity was 0.66.. In terms of profitability, the gross margin trailing 12 months is 74.00%. The trailing 12-month EBITDA margin is 40.04% while for the period ending June 29, Merck & Co. Inc.’s operating margin was 30.80%. The firm’s gross profit as reported stood at $41.87 billion against revenue of $59.28 billion.
Earnings Surprise
For the quarterly period ending June 29 this year, Merck & Co. Inc.’s cash and short-term investments amounted to $718.0 million against total debt of $30.75 billion. Net income and sales went up compared to those figures reported in the previous quarter. Net income grew 172.13% to -$5.97 billion, while revenue of $3.02 billion was 150.49% off the previous quarter. Analysts expected MRK to announce -$1.98 per share in earnings in its latest quarter, but it posted -$1.87, representing a 5.60% surprise. EBITDA for the quarter stood at more than -$4.11 billion. MRK stock balance sheet for the quarter ending June 29 shows that total liabilities totaled 65.73 billion, with total debt at $30.75 billion. Shareholders hold equity totaling $2.54 billion.
Let’s look briefly at Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) price momentum from a technical analysis perspective. The 9-day relative strength index as at close on 08 August was 47.09% to suggest the stock is trending Neutral, with historical volatility in this time period at 14.60%.
The stock’s 5-day moving average is $105.79, reflecting a +1.07% or $1.13 change from its current price. MRK is currently trading -2.11% above its 20-day SMA, -1.13% above its 100-day SMA. However, the stock’s current price level is away from the SMA50 by -5.24% and SMA200 by+14.10%.
Stochastic %K and %D was 22.37% and 17.14% and the average true range (ATR) pointed at 2.00. The RSI (14) points at 45.02%, while the 14-day stochastic is at 32.12% with the period’s ATR at 2.02. The stock’s 9-day MACD Oscillator is pointing at 0.00 and -0.94 on the 14-day charts.
Analyst Ratings
In the most recent analyst report for Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), HSBC Securities launched coverage with a Hold rating. Analysts offering their rating for MRK stock have a consensus rating for the stock as Overweight. Currently, 0 brokerage advisors rate MRK as a “sell,”, while 8 advise that investors “Hold.” 0 analysts have rated the stock as underweight. 5 rates the stock as overweight while 16 have offered a “buy” rating.
What is MRK’s price target for the next 12 months?
Analysts have a consensus price target ranging from a low of $103.00 and a high of $135.00, with their median price target at $126.00. Looking at these predictions, the average price target given by analysts is for Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) stock is $124.18.
