How to buy Merck-and-CoInc shares

Merck & Co., Inc (MRK) is a leading drug manufacturers-general business with stocks listed in the US. It opened the day at US$75.73 after a previous close of US$75.58. During the day the price has varied from a low of USD75.73 to a high of USD76.635. The latest price was USD76.36 (25 minute delay). Merck-and-CoInc is listed on the NYSE. All prices are listed in US Dollars.

How to buy shares in Merck-and-CoInc

1. Compare share trading platforms. To buy shares in a US company from Australia you'll need to find a trading platform that offers access to US stock markets. If you're just starting out, look for a platform with low brokerage and foreign exchange fees.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Merck-and-CoInc. Find the share by name or ticker symbol: MRK. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Merck-and-CoInc reaches your desired price. To spread out your risk, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of US$74.11, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Merck-and-CoInc, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Merck-and-CoInc. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Merck-and-CoInc share price

Use our graph to track the performance of MRK stocks over time.

Merck-and-CoInc shares at a glance

• Live prices
• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-06-24.

Open	US$75.73
High	US$76.635
Low	US$75.73
Close	US$76.36
Previous close	US$75.58
Change	US$0.78
Change %	1.032%
Volume	8,123,465

Information last updated 2021-06-24.

52-week range	US$67.2567 - US$81.1074
50-day moving average	US$74.7707
200-day moving average	US$74.3896
Target price	US$93.02
PE ratio	27.5722
Dividend yield	US$2.48 (3.28%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	US$2.769

Compare share trading platforms to buy stock

The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.

Is it a good time to buy Merck-and-CoInc stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Merck & Co., Inc by TradingView

Merck-and-CoInc price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the last close of $76.36

1 week (2021-06-18)	-0.33%
1 month (2021-05-25)	3.26%
3 months (2021-03-25)	5.20%
6 months (2020-12-24)	-0.14%

1 year (2020-06-25)	4.51%
2 years (2019-06-25)	-6.12%
3 years (2018-06-25)	31.02%
5 years (2016-06-24)	43.21%

Is Merck-and-CoInc under- or over-valued?

Valuing Merck-and-CoInc stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Merck-and-CoInc's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Merck-and-CoInc's P/E ratio

Merck-and-CoInc's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 28x. In other words, Merck-and-CoInc shares trade at around 28x recent earnings.

That's comparable to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29).

Merck-and-CoInc's PEG ratio

Merck-and-CoInc's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.5826. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Merck-and-CoInc's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Merck-and-CoInc's EBITDA

Merck-and-CoInc's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is US$18.6 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Merck-and-CoInc's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Merck-and-CoInc financials

Revenue TTM	US$48 billion
Operating margin TTM	31.42%
Gross profit TTM	US$34.6 billion
Return on assets TTM	10.73%
Return on equity TTM	26.43%
Profit margin	14.63%
Book value	10.645
Market capitalisation	US$193.3 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Merck-and-CoInc shares

There are currently 18.8 million Merck-and-CoInc shares held short by investors – that's known as Merck-and-CoInc's "short interest". This figure is 8% down from 20.5 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Merck-and-CoInc shares can be evaluated.

Merck-and-CoInc's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Merck-and-CoInc's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Merck-and-CoInc shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Merck-and-CoInc shares traded daily (recently around 12.0 million). Merck-and-CoInc's SIR currently stands at 1.57. In other words for every 100,000 Merck-and-CoInc shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1570 shares are currently held short.

However Merck-and-CoInc's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Merck-and-CoInc shares, or, against the total number of tradable Merck-and-CoInc shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Merck-and-CoInc's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Merck-and-CoInc shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0075% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Merck-and-CoInc shares, roughly 8 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Merck-and-CoInc.

Find out more about how you can short Merck-and-CoInc stock.

Merck-and-CoInc's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Merck-and-CoInc.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Merck-and-CoInc's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 28.35

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Merck-and-CoInc's overall score of 28.35 (as at 12/31/2018) is nothing to write home about – landing it in it in the 47th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Merck-and-CoInc is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Merck-and-CoInc's environmental score

Environmental score: 3.15/100

Merck-and-CoInc's environmental score of 3.15 puts it squarely in the 4th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Merck-and-CoInc is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Merck-and-CoInc's social score

Social score: 15.55/100

Merck-and-CoInc's social score of 15.55 puts it squarely in the 4th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Merck-and-CoInc is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Merck-and-CoInc's governance score

Governance score: 12.65/100

Merck-and-CoInc's governance score puts it squarely in the 4th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Merck-and-CoInc is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Merck-and-CoInc's controversy score

Controversy score: 3/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Merck-and-CoInc scored a 3 out of 5 for controversy – a middle-of-the-table result reflecting that Merck-and-CoInc hasn't always managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Merck & Co., Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	28.35
Total ESG percentile	47.16
Environmental score	3.15
Environmental score percentile	4
Social score	15.55
Social score percentile	4
Governance score	12.65
Governance score percentile	4
Level of controversy	3

Merck-and-CoInc share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 42.39% of net profits

Recently Merck-and-CoInc has paid out, on average, around 42.39% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.44% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Merck-and-CoInc shareholders could enjoy a 3.44% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Merck-and-CoInc's case, that would currently equate to about $2.48 per share.

While Merck-and-CoInc's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Merck-and-CoInc may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

Merck-and-CoInc's most recent dividend payout was on 6 July 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 13 June 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Merck-and-CoInc's shares ever split?

Merck-and-CoInc's shares were split on a 1048:1000 basis on 2 June 2021. So if you had owned 1000 shares the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 1048 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Merck-and-CoInc shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 4.6% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Merck-and-CoInc shares which in turn could have impacted Merck-and-CoInc's share price.

Merck-and-CoInc share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Merck-and-CoInc's shares have ranged in value from as little as US$67.2567 up to US$81.1074. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Merck-and-CoInc's is 0.4125. This would suggest that Merck-and-CoInc's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Merck-and-CoInc overview

Merck & Co., Inc. operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health segments. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, diabetes, and women's health, as well as vaccine products. The Animal Health segment provides discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets a range of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and health management solutions and services, as well as a suite of digitally connected identification, traceability, and monitoring products. The company has collaborations with AstraZeneca PLC; Bayer AG; Eisai Co., Ltd.; and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. It serves drug wholesalers and retailers, hospitals, and government agencies; managed health care providers, such as health maintenance organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, and other institutions; and physicians and physician distributors, veterinarians, and animal producers. The company has collaboration agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. to co-develop and co-commercialize long-acting investigational treatment combinations of Lenacapavir and Islatravir in HIV; Amathus Therapeutics to develop treatments for neurodegenerative diseases; and Linnaeus Therapeutics, Inc. to evaluate LNS8801 in combination with KEYTRUDA for patients with advanced cancer. It also has a collaboration with Biomed X Gmbh for building on ongoing research projects in the fields of oncology (DNA damage response and RNA splicing) and autoimmunity (intestinal epithelial barrier in autoimmune diseases). Merck & Co., Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Merck-and-CoInc is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.069% of Merck-and-CoInc shares are held by insiders and 75.212% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for Merck-and-CoInc?

  Merck-and-CoInc's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Merck-and-CoInc based?

  Merck-and-CoInc's address is: 2000 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, NJ, United States, 07033

• What is Merck-and-CoInc's ISIN number?

  Merck-and-CoInc's international securities identification number is: DE0006599905

• What is Merck-and-CoInc's CUSIP number?

  Merck-and-CoInc's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 589331107