Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) Stock Forecast & Price Target

$96.18 -1.74 (-1.78%)

As of 01/21/2025 03:59 PM Eastern

Merck & Co., Inc. - Analysts' Recommendations and Stock Price Forecast (2025)

MarketBeat calculates consensus analyst ratings for stocks using the most recent rating from each Wall Street analyst that has rated a stock within the last twelve months. Each analyst's rating is normalized to a standardized rating score of 1 (sell), 2 (hold), 3 (buy) or 4 (strong buy). Analyst consensus ratings scores are calculated using the mean average of the number of normalized sell, hold, buy and strong buy ratings from Wall Street analysts. Each stock's consensus analyst rating is derived from its calculated consensus ratings score (0 to .5 = Strong Sell, .5 to 1 = Sell, 1 to 1.5 = Reduce, 1.5 to 2.5 = Hold, 2.5 to 3.0 = Moderate Buy, 3.0 to 3.5 = Buy, >3.5 = Strong Buy). MarketBeat's consensus price targets are a mean average of the most recent available price targets set by each analyst that has set a price target for the stock in the last twelve months. MarketBeat's consensus ratings and consensus price targets may differ from those calculated by other firms due to differences in methodology and available data.

Consensus Rating

Moderate Buy

Based on 21 Analyst Ratings

Sell
1

Hold
8

Buy
12

Based on 21 Wall Street analysts who have issued ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last 12 months, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy." Out of the 21 analysts, 1 has given a sell rating, 8 have given a hold rating, 9 have given a buy rating, and 3 have given a strong buy rating for MRK.

Consensus Price Target

$123.00
27.89% Upside

According to the 21 analysts' twelve-month price targets for Merck & Co., Inc., the average price target is $123.00. The highest price target for MRK is $155.00, while the lowest price target for MRK is $104.00. The average price target represents a forecasted upside of 27.89% from the current price of $96.18.

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MRK Analyst Ratings Over Time

Type	Current Forecast 1/23/24 to 1/22/25	1 Month Ago 12/24/23 to 12/23/24	3 Months Ago 10/25/23 to 10/24/24	1 Year Ago 1/23/23 to 1/23/24
Strong Buy	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)
Buy	9 Buy rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)
Hold	8 Hold rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)
Sell	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Sell rating(s)
Consensus Price Target	$123.00	$127.13	$131.62	$125.90
Forecasted Upside	27.89% Upside	27.94% Upside	24.31% Upside	5.04% Upside
Consensus Rating	Moderate Buy	Moderate Buy	Moderate Buy	Moderate Buy

MRK Analyst Recommendations By Month

The chart below shows how a company's ratings by analysts have changed over time. Each bar represents the previous year of ratings for that month. Within each bar, the sell ratings are shown in red, the hold ratings are shown in yellow, the buy ratings are shown in green, and the strong buy ratings are shown in dark green.

MRK Price Targets by Month

The chart below shows how a company's share price and consensus price target have changed over time. The dark blue line represents the company's actual price. The lighter blue line represents the stock's consensus price target. The even lighter blue range in the background of the two lines represents the low price target and the high price target for each stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock vs. The Competition

Type	Merck & Co., Inc.	Medical Companies	S&P 500
Consensus Rating Score	2.67	2.82	2.52
Consensus Rating	Moderate Buy	Moderate Buy	Moderate Buy
Predicted Upside	28.21% Upside	24,755.71% Upside	11.35% Upside
News Sentiment Rating	Positive News See Recent MRK News	Positive News	Positive News

Recent Analyst Forecasts and Stock Ratings

Rating

Upside/Downside

Action

Time Frame

Start Date

End Date

Show

Export to Excel

Date	Brokerage	Analyst Name	Action	Rating	Price Target	Upside/Downside on Report Date
1/21/2025	Morgan Stanley 3 of 5 stars	Terence Flynn Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Lower Target	Equal Weight ➝ Equal Weight	$123.00 ➝ $113.00	+17.14%
1/13/2025	Leerink Partners 1 of 5 stars	Daina Graybosch Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Lower Target	Outperform ➝ Outperform	$136.00 ➝ $119.00	+19.31%
1/8/2025	UBS Group 4 of 5 stars		Lower Target	Buy ➝ Buy	$125.00 ➝ $120.00	+21.14%
1/8/2025	Truist Financial Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Reiterated Rating	Buy ➝ Hold	$130.00 ➝ $110.00	+8.88%
12/20/2024	BMO Capital Markets Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	E. Seigerman Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Downgrade	Outperform ➝ Market Perform	$136.00 ➝ $105.00	+5.51%
12/10/2024	Bank of America Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Reiterated Rating	Buy	$121.00	+16.58%
12/4/2024	Hsbc Global Res Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	R. Kumar Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Upgrade	Hold ➝ Strong-Buy
12/4/2024	HSBC Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Upgrade	Hold ➝ Buy	$130.00	+27.65%
11/15/2024	Wolfe Research Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	T. Anderson Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Initiated Coverage	Peer Perform
11/11/2024	Daiwa America Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	N. Nakagiri Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Downgrade	Strong-Buy ➝ Hold
Get the Latest News and Ratings for MRK and Related Stocks Enter your email address below to receive the latest news and analysts' ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
11/11/2024	Daiwa Capital Markets Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Downgrade	Buy ➝ Neutral
11/6/2024	Guggenheim Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Lower Target	Buy ➝ Buy	$137.00 ➝ $130.00	+28.14%
11/1/2024	Wells Fargo & Company Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Lower Target	Equal Weight ➝ Equal Weight	$125.00 ➝ $110.00	+7.78%
10/25/2024	Citigroup Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Lower Target	Buy ➝ Buy	$140.00 ➝ $130.00	+24.24%
10/17/2024	Sanford C. Bernstein Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	C. Breen Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Initiated Coverage	Market Perform	$115.00	+4.14%
10/7/2024	Barclays Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Lower Target	Overweight ➝ Overweight	$142.00 ➝ $140.00	+28.83%
10/3/2024	Cantor Fitzgerald Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Reiterated Rating	Overweight ➝ Overweight	$155.00 ➝ $155.00	+39.53%
7/30/2024	Evercore ISI Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	U. Raffat Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Upgrade	Strong-Buy
6/5/2024	Argus Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	J. Hellweg Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Upgrade	Strong-Buy
4/8/2024	Berenberg Bank Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Boost Target	Buy ➝ Buy	$140.00 ➝ $143.00	+11.73%
3/11/2024	Societe Generale Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Downgrade	Hold ➝ Sell	$104.00	-15.33%
1/4/2024	TD Cowen Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Upgrade	Market Perform ➝ Outperform	$125.00 ➝ $135.00	+17.63%
11/9/2023	Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Initiated Coverage	Buy	$115.00	+10.15%
4/16/2023	BTIG Research Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Downgrade	Buy ➝ Neutral
4/10/2023	Mizuho Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Mara Goldstein Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Reiterated Rating	Buy	$130.00	+15.44%
3/7/2023	Atlantic Securities Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Boost Target	Overweight	$122.00 ➝ $127.00	+14.14%
3/7/2023	Credit Suisse Group Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Boost Target	Outperform	$125.00 ➝ $126.00	+13.24%
3/6/2023	Jefferies Financial Group Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Initiated Coverage	Buy	$125.00	+16.95%
2/23/2023	JPMorgan Chase & Co. Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Boost Target	Overweight	$120.00 ➝ $125.00	+13.08%

Analyst ratings data on MarketBeat is provided by Benzinga and other data providers. This page was last refreshed on Wednesday at 03:01 AM ET.

Should I Buy Merck & Co., Inc. Stock? MRK Pros and Cons Explained

These pros and cons were generated based on recent news and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate insights. They were last updated on Sunday, January 12, 2025. Please send any questions or comments about these Merck & Co., Inc. pros and cons to contact@marketbeat.com.

Merck & Co., Inc.
Bull Case

Here are some ways that investors could benefit from investing in Merck:

Merck's stock is currently priced at $101.03, reflecting a strong market capitalization of approximately $255.57 billion, indicating robust investor confidence and potential for growth.
The company has shown resilience with a P/E ratio of 21.18, suggesting that investors are willing to pay a premium for its earnings, which can be a sign of expected future growth.
Recent institutional investments, such as Wellington Management Group increasing its stake by 4.6%, demonstrate strong institutional confidence in Merck's future performance.
Merck has a solid financial position with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, indicating that it is not overly reliant on debt to finance its operations, which can reduce financial risk.
The company has a history of consistent performance, with a 12-month high of $134.63, showcasing its ability to maintain value in a fluctuating market.

Merck & Co., Inc.
Bear Case

Investors should be bearish about investing in Merck for these reasons:

Merck's stock has experienced a decline from its 12-month high of $134.63, which may indicate potential volatility and uncertainty in its future performance.
The company has a relatively low beta of 0.39, suggesting that it is less volatile than the market, which could mean lower potential returns compared to higher-risk investments.
Recent selling activity by institutional investors, such as CWA Asset Management reducing its holdings by 30.1%, may signal a lack of confidence in the stock's short-term prospects.
Merck's current ratio of 1.36, while above 1, indicates that it has just enough assets to cover its liabilities, which could raise concerns about liquidity in times of financial stress.
With 76.07% of the stock owned by institutional investors, there may be less room for retail investors to influence the stock's performance, potentially limiting individual investor gains.

MRK Forecast - Frequently Asked Questions

: According to the research reports of 21 Wall Street equities research analysts, the average twelve-month stock price forecast for Merck & Co., Inc. is $123.00, with a high forecast of $155.00 and a low forecast of $104.00.
: 21 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last year. There is currently 1 sell rating, 8 hold ratings, 9 buy ratings and 3 strong buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "moderate buy" MRK shares.
: According to analysts, Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock has a predicted upside of 27.89% based on their 12-month stock forecasts.
: Over the previous 90 days, Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock had 3 downgrades and 2 upgrades by analysts.
: Merck & Co., Inc. has been rated by research analysts at Bank of America, BMO Capital Markets, Citigroup, Daiwa America, Daiwa Capital Markets, Guggenheim, Hsbc Global Res, HSBC, Leerink Partners, Morgan Stanley, Truist Financial, UBS Group, Wells Fargo & Company, and Wolfe Research in the past 90 days.
: Analysts like Merck & Co., Inc. less than other "medical" companies. The consensus rating score for Merck & Co., Inc. is 2.67 while the average consensus rating score for "medical" companies is 2.82. Learn more on how MRK compares to other companies.

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This page (NYSE:MRK) was last updated on 1/22/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff

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Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) Stock Forecast & Price Target