What Our Analysts Know About Merck & Company

By Harris Dyer • Wednesday, October 11 10:17 • Permanent Link

Large-cap Health Care company Merck & Company has moved -0.3% so far today on a volume of 645,720, compared to its average of 6,794,360. In contrast, the S&P 500 index moved 0.0%.

Merck & Company trades -16.83% away from its average analyst target price of $124.15 per share. The 24 analysts following the stock have set target prices ranging from $103.0 to $135.0, and on average have given Merck & Company a rating of buy.

Anyone interested in buying MRK should be aware of the facts below:

Merck & Company's current price is 114.0% above its Graham number of $48.25, which implies that at its current valuation it does not offer a margin of safety
Merck & Company has moved 16.0% over the last year, and the S&P 500 logged a change of 23.0%
Based on its trailing earnings per share of 1.22, Merck & Company has a trailing 12 month Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 84.6 while the S&P 500 average is 15.97
MRK has a forward P/E ratio of 12.3 based on its forward 12 month price to earnings (EPS) of $8.41 per share
The company has a price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio of 2.85 — a number near or below 1 signifying that Merck & Company is fairly valued compared to its estimated growth potential
Its Price to Book (P/B) ratio is 6.78 compared to its sector average of 4.16
Merck & Co., Inc. operates as a healthcare company worldwide.
Based in Rahway, the company has 67,000 full time employees and a market cap of $262.0 Billion. Merck & Company currently returns an annual dividend yield of 2.7%.

The above analysis is intended for educational purposes only and was performed on the basis of publicly available data. It is not to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any buy, sell, or other recommendations mentioned in the article are direct quotations of consensus recommendations from the analysts covering the stock, and do not represent the opinions of Market Inference or its writers. Past performance, accounting data, and inferences about market position and corporate valuation are not reliable indicators of future price movements. Market Inference does not provide financial advice. Investors should conduct their own review and analysis of any company of interest before making an investment decision.