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How to buy Merck-and-CoInc stock in Canada | $74.62
Own Merck-and-CoInc shares in just a few minutes.
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How To Invest In
Merck & Co., Inc is a drug manufacturers-general business based in the US. Merck-and-CoInc shares (MRK.US) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Its last market close was $74.62 – an increase of 0.16% over the previous week. Merck-and-CoInc employs 73,000 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around $48 billion.
How to buy shares in Merck-and-CoInc
- Choose a platform. If you're a beginner, our share-dealing table below can help you choose.
- Open your account. You'll need your ID, bank details and national insurance number.
- Confirm your payment details. You'll need to fund your account with a bank transfer, debit card or credit card.
- Search the platform for stock code: MRK in this case.
- Research Merck-and-CoInc shares. The platform should provide the latest information available.
- Buy your Merck-and-CoInc shares. It's that simple.
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What's in this guide?
- Can I buy shares in Merck-and-CoInc?
- Has coronavirus impacted Merck-and-CoInc shares?
- Merck-and-CoInc shares summary
- Compare share dealing platforms
- Is Merck-and-CoInc stock a buy or sell?
- Merck-and-CoInc performance over time
- Can I short Merck-and-CoInc shares?
- Is Merck-and-CoInc suitable for ethical investing?
- Are Merck-and-CoInc shares over-valued?
- Merck-and-CoInc's financials
- How volatile are Merck-and-CoInc shares?
- Does Merck-and-CoInc pay a dividend?
- Have Merck-and-CoInc shares ever split?
- Other common questions
How has Coronavirus impacted Merck-and-CoInc's share price?
Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Merck-and-CoInc's share price has had significant negative movement.
Its last market close was $74.62, which is 9.38% down on its pre-crash value of $82.34 and 14.36% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as $65.25.
If you had bought $1,000 worth of Merck-and-CoInc shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth $760.28 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth $854.40.
Merck-and-CoInc share price
Use our graph to track the performance of MRK stocks over time.Merck-and-CoInc shares at a glance
Information last updated 2021-05-07.
| Latest market close | $74.62 |
|---|---|
| 52-week range | $71.0904 - $85.7298 |
| 50-day moving average | $76.8714 |
| 200-day moving average | $78.265 |
| Wall St. target price | $94.02 |
| PE ratio | 28.2828 |
| Dividend yield | $2.48 (3.19%) |
| Earnings per share (TTM) | $2.769 |
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Note: The dollar amounts in the table below are in Canadian dollars.
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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.
Merck-and-CoInc price performance over time
Historical closes compared with the last close of $74.62
| 1 week (2021-05-05) | -3.96% |
|---|---|
| 1 month (2021-04-13) | -2.37% |
| 3 months (2021-02-12) | -0.51% |
| 6 months (2020-11-12) | -6.56% |
| 1 year (2020-05-12) | -3.33% |
|---|---|
| 2 years (2019-05-10) | -4.57% |
| 3 years (2018-05-11) | 25.01% |
| 5 years (2016-05-12) | 37.88% |
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 1.3003. 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 USD$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 | USD$48 billion |
|---|---|
| Operating margin TTM | 31.42% |
| Gross profit TTM | USD$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 | USD$198.2 billion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
How to short and sell Merck-and-CoInc shares
- Create a CFD or spread betting account.
- Search for the stock code. E.g. "MRK.US"
- Choose your position size.
- Select "sell" rather than "buy".
- Confirm your position and keep tabs on it. You may wish to set limits on your position.
There are currently 21.0 million Merck-and-CoInc shares held short by investors – that's known as Merck-and-CoInc's "short interest". This figure is 15.9% up from 18.1 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 13.1 million). Merck-and-CoInc's SIR currently stands at 1.61. In other words for every 100,000 Merck-and-CoInc shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1610 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 0.0083% 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 01/01/2019) 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: 43.22% of net profits
Recently Merck-and-CoInc has paid out, on average, around 43.22% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.34% 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 3.34% 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 7 April 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 12 March 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").
Have Merck-and-CoInc's shares ever split?
Merck-and-CoInc's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 17 February 1999. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Merck-and-CoInc shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% 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 $71.0904 up to $85.7298. 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 0.4139. 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 an agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. to co-develop and co-commercialize long-acting investigational treatment combinations of Lenacapavir and Islatravir in HIV; and a collaboration agreement with Amathus Therapeutics to develop treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Merck & Co., Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey.
Frequently asked questions
Disclaimer: This information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of futures, stocks, ETFs, CFDs, options or any specific provider, service or offering. It should not be relied upon as investment advice or construed as providing recommendations of any kind. Futures, stocks, ETFs and options trading involves substantial risk of loss and therefore are not appropriate for all investors. Trading CFDs and forex on leverage comes with a higher risk of losing money rapidly. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Consider your own circumstances, and obtain your own advice, before making any trades.
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