Merck & Co. (MRK)
Healthcare · NYSE · US
Price as at 1 Sept 2026, 17:17 UTC. Quotes are delayed.
Fundamentals
Valuation and ratings
Merck & Co. trades at $149.09, which is 30% above the $105.00 our fair value estimate puts on the business. On that measure it screens as expensive, which is not the same as saying it will fall.
Our moat model scores it 75 out of 100, which is a wide moat. A moat is a structural reason competitors cannot take the profits away, and it matters more to a long holding period than any single quarter's numbers do.
It changes hands at 34.8 times earnings. Be careful reading that in isolation: for a cyclical business a low P/E arrives at the top of the cycle, when profits are peaking and about to fall, which is exactly when the shares look cheapest and are not.
MRK dividend history
Dividends per share by year
| Year | Total per share | Payments |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 (year to date) | $0.850 | 1 |
| 2004 | $1.07 | 3 |
| 2003 | $4.14 | 5 |
| 2002 | $1.35 | 4 |
| 2001 | $1.32 | 4 |
| 2000 | $1.20 | 4 |
| 1999 | $1.07 | 4 |
| 1998 | $0.945 | 4 |
| 1997 | $0.830 | 4 |
| 1996 | $0.706 | 4 |
| 1995 | $0.611 | 4 |
Split-adjusted amounts in the listing currency, grouped by the calendar year of the ex-dividend date, from the filed record. Growth and streak figures compare complete years only.
MRK earnings and analyst estimates
Recommendation mix, 29 published ratings
Estimates are the published analyst consensus and move often. An earnings date is scheduled, not certain, and a share tends to reprice most violently on the day itself.
About Merck & Co.
Merck & Co., Inc. operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It offers human health pharmaceutical for various areas under the Keytruda, Keytruda Qlex, Welireg, Gardasil, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, Vaxneuvance, Capvaxive, RotaTeq, Pneumovax 23, Bridion, Prevymis, Dificid, Zerbaxa, Winrevair, Adempas/ Verquvo, Ohtuvayre, Lagevrio, Isentress/Isentress HD, Delstrigo, Pifeltro, Belsomra, Januvia, and Janumet brands. The company also provides veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions and services, such as livestock products under the Nuflor, Bovilis/Vista, Bovilis Cryptium, Banamine, Estrumate, Matrix, Resflor, Zuprevo, Revalor, Safe-Guard, M+Pac, Porcilis, Circumvent, Nobilis/Innovax, Paracox and Coccivac, Exzolt, Slice, Imvixa, Clynav, Aquavac/Norvax, Aquaflor, Flexolt brands; Allflex Livestock Intelligence solutions; and companion animal products under the Bravecto One-Month, Bravecto Injectable/Quantum, Bravecto TriUNO, Bravecto Plus, Sentinel Spectrum, Sentinel Flavor Tabs, Numelvi, Optimmune, Nobivac NXT, GilvetMab, Otomax, Mometamax, Mometamax Ultra, Posatex, Caninsulin/Vetsulin, Panacur, Safeguard, Regumate, Prestige, Scalibor/Exspot, Sure Petcare, and Home Again brands. It has development and commercialization agreement for three of Daiichi Sankyo's deruxtecan ADC candidates; AstraZeneca PLC to co-development and co-commercialize AstraZeneca's Lynparza products for multiple cancer types; licensed to develop, manufacture and commercialize LM-299, a novel investigational PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody from LaNova; and collaboration agreement with Eisai Co., Ltd., Bayer AG, and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP, as well Moderna, Inc. Merck & Co., Inc. has strategic collaboration with Infinimmune, Inc. to discover and develop antibodies against multiple therapeutic targets. The company was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey.
Company profile, industry and headcount are as reported by our data provider and can lag a company's own filings by a reporting period. The annual report is the authority.
MRK passes 5 of our 30 screens today
Each screen prints the exact criteria it used, and the circumstances in which it is wrong.
Super investor ownership
26 of the funds we track reported a position in their latest SEC 13F filing. Largest first:
- Ken Fisher, Fisher Asset Management, LLC$4.95B · 1.5% of book
- Bill Nygren, HARRIS ASSOCIATES L P$1.55B · 2.1% of book
- Cliff Asness, AQR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC$1.04B · 0.4% of book
- Jeremy Grantham, Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC$871.87M · 2.0% of book
- Arrowstreet Capital, ARROWSTREET CAPITAL, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP$509.70M · 0.2% of book
A word of warning on reading these figures: a 13F reports the market value of a holding, so a fund that traded nothing at all still appears to have sold when the price fell. We found 102 companies where the standard reading gives the opposite answer. Only the share count is honest.
Common questions
Is Merck & Co. (MRK) undervalued?
Against our fair value estimate of $105.00, MRK at $149.09 is 30% above fair value. That is one model's answer, not a recommendation. It is built from normalized earning power with growth capped deliberately low, which understates companies whose value is mostly future growth.
Which funds own MRK?
26 of the institutions we track reported a position in MRK in their most recent SEC 13F filing. A 13F is filed up to 45 days after quarter end, so it tells you what a fund held then, not what it holds now.
What is MRK's P/E ratio?
MRK trades at 34.8 times earnings. A low P/E is not automatically cheap: on a cyclical company it is usually a warning that earnings are at a peak.
Does Merck & Co. (MRK) pay a dividend?
Yes. Merck & Co. yields 2.75% at the current share price. It has paid $0.850 per share over the trailing twelve months. It has paid a dividend in each of the last 43 complete calendar years. A dividend is declared by the board and can be cut at any time; a yield is a fact about the current price, not a promise.
Where does SteadyShares get its MRK data?
Fundamentals for MRK come from company filings and exchange data, as listed on NYSE; institutional ownership comes from SEC 13F filings. The share price shown was last refreshed on 1 Sept 2026, 17:17 UTC and is delayed. Metrics we do not hold are left out of the page rather than estimated.
The full research page for MRK, with financial statements, ownership detail, peer comparison and alerts, is free inside the app.
Data from company filings, exchange quotes and SEC EDGAR 13F disclosures. Quotes are delayed. Metrics we do not have are left out rather than estimated. Educational information, not financial advice.