Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Updates FY17 Earnings Guidance

Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE:MRK) updated its FY17 earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $3.76-3.88 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus earnings per share estimate of $3.85. The company issued revenue guidance of $39.4-40.4 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $40.05 billion.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. BidaskClub downgraded shares of Merck & from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $73.00 target price (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Merck & in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Merck & from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, May 25th. Jefferies Group LLC reiterated a sell rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Merck & in a research note on Wednesday, May 24th. Finally, Vetr downgraded shares of Merck & from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating and set a $69.99 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $69.58.

Shares of Merck & Company, Inc. (MRK) traded up 0.32% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $62.70. 6,016,730 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. The company has a market capitalization of $171.01 billion, a PE ratio of 33.95 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.86. Merck & Company, Inc. has a one year low of $58.29 and a one year high of $66.80.

Merck & (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 28th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.14. Merck & had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 26.02%. The business had revenue of $9.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Company, Inc. will post $3.87 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. Merck &’s payout ratio is 76.11%.

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Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Coastline Trust Co boosted its position in Merck & by 0.3% in the second quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 57,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,679,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Merck & by 10.6% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 319,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,485,000 after buying an additional 30,520 shares in the last quarter. Dai Ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its position in Merck & by 2.3% in the second quarter. Dai Ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 401,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,717,000 after buying an additional 8,993 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Merck & by 3.8% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its position in Merck & by 10.3% in the second quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 12,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $825,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.46% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a global healthcare company. The Company offers health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, Healthcare Services and Alliances. The Company’s Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products marketed either directly by the Company or through joint ventures.