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

$82.83 +2.99 (+3.74%)

Closing price 04/25/2025 03:59 PM Eastern

Extended Trading

$82.65 -0.18 (-0.22%)

As of 04/25/2025 07:59 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 22 Analyst Ratings

Sell
0

Hold
12

Buy
10

Based on 22 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 22 analysts, 12 have given a hold rating, 7 have given a buy rating, and 3 have given a strong buy rating for MRK.

Consensus Price Target

$111.13
34.16% Upside

According to the 22 analysts' twelve-month price targets for Merck & Co., Inc., the average price target is $111.13. The highest price target for MRK is $140.00, while the lowest price target for MRK is $85.00. The average price target represents a forecasted upside of 34.16% from the current price of $82.83.

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MRK Analyst Ratings Over Time

Type	Current Forecast 4/26/24 to 4/26/25	1 Month Ago 3/27/24 to 3/27/25	3 Months Ago 1/27/24 to 1/26/25	1 Year Ago 4/27/23 to 4/26/24
Strong Buy	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)
Buy	7 Buy rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)
Hold	12 Hold rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)
Sell	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Sell rating(s)
Consensus Price Target	$111.13	$117.12	$123.00	$131.33
Forecasted Upside	34.16% Upside	33.70% Upside	28.74% Upside	0.11% 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	2.59	2.82	2.54
Consensus Rating	Moderate Buy	Moderate Buy	Moderate Buy
Predicted Upside	34.16% Upside	2,806.58% Upside	21.42% 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
4/22/2025	Cantor Fitzgerald 3 of 5 stars	Carter Gould Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Initiated Coverage	Neutral	$85.00	+9.10%
4/17/2025	Guggenheim 2 of 5 stars	Vamil Divan Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Reiterated Rating	Buy ➝ Buy	$115.00 ➝ $115.00	+47.26%
2/18/2025	Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft 3 of 5 stars	James Shin Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Downgrade	Buy ➝ Hold	$128.00 ➝ $105.00	+26.49%
2/10/2025	TD Securities Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Downgrade	Buy ➝ Hold	$121.00 ➝ $100.00	+15.45%
2/10/2025	TD Cowen Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	S. Scala Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Downgrade	Buy ➝ Hold	$121.00 ➝ $100.00	+14.60%
2/5/2025	Bank of America Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Tim Anderson Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Lower Target	Buy ➝ Buy	$118.00 ➝ $112.00	+26.31%
2/5/2025	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	Lower Target	Market Perform ➝ Market Perform	$105.00 ➝ $96.00	+7.95%
2/5/2025	Citigroup Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Andrew Baum Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Lower Target	Buy ➝ Buy	$125.00 ➝ $115.00	+26.39%
2/5/2025	Morgan Stanley Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Terence Flynn Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Lower Target	Equal Weight ➝ Equal Weight	$113.00 ➝ $106.00	+16.50%
1/13/2025	Leerink Partners Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Daina Graybosch Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating	Lower Target	Outperform ➝ Outperform	$136.00 ➝ $119.00	+19.31%
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1/8/2025	UBS Group Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		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%
12/4/2024	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
11/11/2024	Daiwa Capital Markets Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the recommendation accuracy rating		Downgrade	Buy ➝ Neutral
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%
10/17/2024	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%
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%

Analyst ratings data on MarketBeat is provided by Benzinga and other data providers. This page was last refreshed on Sunday at 12:20 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 Wednesday, April 23, 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:

The current stock price is around $79, showing a recent increase of 0.4%, which may indicate positive market sentiment.
Merck has a strong net margin of approximately 26.67%, suggesting efficient management and profitability, which can lead to higher returns for investors.
The company has announced a significant share buyback program worth $10 billion, indicating that the board believes the stock is undervalued and is committed to returning value to shareholders.
Merck's quarterly revenue has increased by about 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year, reflecting growth and resilience in its business operations.
Analysts forecast an earnings per share (EPS) of 9.01 for the current fiscal year, which could signal strong future profitability and potential stock price appreciation.

Merck & Co., Inc.
Bear Case

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

The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.72 for the latest quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85, which may raise concerns about its short-term performance.
Several brokerages have downgraded their ratings on Merck, with price targets being reduced, indicating a cautious outlook from analysts.
Insider selling activity has been noted, with one insider selling a significant number of shares, which could be interpreted as a lack of confidence in the stock's future performance.
The stock has experienced a decline in trading volume, which may suggest reduced investor interest or confidence in the stock.
Merck's payout ratio is around 48.14%, which, while sustainable, indicates that a significant portion of earnings is being distributed as dividends, potentially limiting reinvestment in growth opportunities.

MRK Forecast - Frequently Asked Questions

: According to the research reports of 22 Wall Street equities research analysts, the average twelve-month stock price forecast for Merck & Co., Inc. is $111.13, with a high forecast of $140.00 and a low forecast of $85.00.
: 22 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Merck & Co., Inc. in the last twelve months. There are currently 12 hold ratings, 7 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 34.16% based on their 12-month stock forecasts.
: Over the previous 90 days, Merck & Co., Inc.'s stock had 3 downgrades by analysts.
: Merck & Co., Inc. has been rated by research analysts at Bank of America, BMO Capital Markets, Cantor Fitzgerald, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Guggenheim, Morgan Stanley, TD Cowen, and TD Securities in the past 90 days.
: Analysts like Merck & Co., Inc. less than other "medical" companies. The consensus rating score for Merck & Co., Inc. is 2.59 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 4/26/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff

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