How to Buy Merck & Co Stock
Merck & Co Inc
Merck & Co is a general drug manufacturer company located in New Jersey, United States, which is part of the Healthcare sector, and is traded under the ticker MRK on the NYSE exchange.
Merck & Co stock last closed at $148.30, up 1.07% from the previous day, and has increased 71.06% in one year. It has overperformed other stocks in the Drug Manufacturers - General industry by 0.39 percentage points. Merck & Co stock is currently +80.83% from its 52-week low of $82.01, and -5.49% from its 52-week high of $156.92.
As of Oct 20, 2026, there are 2.47B MRK shares outstanding. The market cap of MRK is $365.88B. In the past 24 hours, 9.92M MRK shares were traded.
How to Buy Merck & Co Stock
Not sure how to invest in Merck & Co stock? Here's how.
- Decide where to buy Merck & Co stock: You need to choose an online brokerage, but don't worry - we've researched dozens of online stock brokerages and apps to help you decide where to buy Merck & Co stock.
- Create a brokerage account: Sign up for 0% fee trading with the highest-rated brokerage we've identified.
- Put funds into your brokerage account: Choose your method of payment and add your information.
- Analyze Merck & Co stock: The Merck & Co ticker symbol is MRK. Is Merck & Co stock a good investment? Should you buy shares of MRK? How do MRK's underlying business fundamentals look? Do top analysts think Merck & Co is a good buy? Why has MRK's stock price moved recently? (Hint: Our stock market analysis website can help you figure out if MRK is a good stock to buy).
- Make your MRK trade: Decide if you will purchase MRK shares at the current market price or use a limit order to purchase MRK shares at a given price.
- Track your MRK position: Create a watchlist to watch your new investment in Merck & Co shares.
Step 1: Decide where to buy Merck & Co stock
You need a brokerage account in order to access the NYSE market and buy MRK shares.
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Open eToro AccountStep 2: Create a brokerage account
Now that you've chosen the right brokerage, you need to fill out some personal details so you are able to invest in MRK today.
How to Set Up a New Investment Account on eToro
- Click here to get started.eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
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Step 3: Put funds into your brokerage account
Now that you've opened your account on the best app for stock investing, you need to deposit funds:
Check out the walkthrough below for more details depositing money into your new brokerage account.
Step 4: Analyze Merck & Co stock
After you have figured out the best place to buy Merck & Co stock, it's critical to research their stock before you buy, so you can comprehend the risk and opportunity.
Merck & Co Numbers
MRK Due Diligence Checks
WallStreetZen was built to help part-time investors do more accurate fundamental analysis quickly.
You can view all of the due diligence checks on MRK's stock page.
Is MRK stock undervalued?
You can use a variety of different financial metrics, analyses, models, and charts to gauge MRK's true value.
Using relative valuations ratios:
- MRK could be overvalued based on its P/E ratio of 116.77x, relative to Drug Manufacturers - General industry P/E ratio of 41.72x
- MRK could be overvalued based on its P/B ratio of 8.73x, relative to Drug Manufacturers - General industry P/B ratio of 8.38x
- MRK could be overvalued based on its PEG ratio of 1.07x
You can do additional valuation research on MRK's stock here.
MRK Financial Overview
Positive Health Checks:
- MRK's operating cash flow of $19.97B allows it to safely service it's debt of $53.91B.
- There are more short-term assets than short-term liabilities on the MRK balance sheet.
Negative Health Checks:
- Total MRK debt is higher than 5 years ago, relative to shareholder equity.
- There are more long-term liabilities than short-term assets on the MRK balance sheet.
- MRK has a relatively high debt to equity ratio of 2.09.
- MRK earnings of $7.69B is not enough to cover its interest payments.
- MRK profit margin has gone down from 25.8% to 4.8% in the past year.
Is Merck & Co stock a Buy, Hold, or Sell, according to analysts?
Out of 17 sell side analysts who give ratings on MRK, the consensus analyst rating on Merck & Co is a Strong Buy
It's important to note that analyst ratings are not stock recommendations, nor are they financial advice.
Latest MRK Analyst Ratings
Louise Chen, a top 11% analyst from ScotiaBank maintains MRK with a buy rating and raises their MRK price target from $155.00 to $180.00, on Sep 29, 2026.
Rajesh Kumar, a top 29% analyst from HSBC maintains MRK with a strong buy rating and raises their MRK price target from $150.00 to $172.00, on Sep 10, 2026.
Daina Graybosch, a bottom 1% analyst from Leerink Partners maintains MRK with a buy rating and raises their MRK price target from $127.00 to $161.00, on Sep 9, 2026.
Vamil Divan, a top 4% analyst from Guggenheim maintains MRK with a strong buy rating and raises their MRK price target from $146.00 to $170.00, on Sep 8, 2026.
Guggenheim's Vamil Divan raised their price target on Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) by 16.4% from $146 to $170 on 2026/09/08. The analyst maintained their Strong Buy rating on the stock.
Divan attributed their price target hike on Guggenheim's Biopharma Top Pick Merck to increased sales estimates for intismeran autogene following "historic" positive topline data the company and partner Moderna released for that asset in patients with stage IIB-IV melanoma.
Mohit Bansal, a top 12% analyst from Wells Fargo maintains MRK with a strong buy rating and raises their MRK price target from $150.00 to $170.00, on Sep 4, 2026.
You can dig deeper into what analysts are projecting on the Merck & Co stock forecast page.
MRK Trading Indicators
Is MRK Making Money?
Last year, MRK earnings were $3.17B. Over the last five year, MRK's earnings have increased by -10.41% per year. This was slower than the Drug Manufacturers - General industry average of 11.42%.
Last year, MRK revenue was $66.57B. Over the past 5 year, MRK's revenue has grown by 8.68% per year. This was slower than the Drug Manufacturers - General industry average of 10.61%.
You can research MRK's earnings and revenue performance here.
What are MRK executives and large shareholders up to?
In the past year, insiders at MRK have sold more shares than they have bought.
Chirfi Guindo, EVP of MRK, was the latest MRK insider to sell. They sold $1,350,000.00 worth of MRK shares on Aug 13, 2026.
Get more info about who owns MRK stock here.
Does MRK stock generate passive income?
Merck & Co pays a dividend of 2.29%, compared to the Drug Manufacturers - General industry's average dividend yield of 2.57%. If you owned $1,000 of MRK stock, you would have received $22.93 last year.
Merck & Co dividend payments have consistently grown over the past decade and have remained stable.
Dig into more data about Merck & Co dividend yield and history here.
What do other traders have to say about MRK?
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Step 5: Make your MRK trade
There are two main options:
- Market order: A market order is an order to buy or sell a stock at the best possible price.
Market orders are usually the best for newer investors. - Limit order: A limit order lets you buy or sell a stock at a specific price (or better).
If you want to ensure you're buying or selling at a specific price limit, place a limit order.
Click the Open button and eToro will place the order.
If you need more help buying stocks on eToro, watch the helpful video below:
Step 6: Track your MRK position
Now that you own some shares in MRK, you'll want to stay up-to-date on your stock purchase.
Make a watchlist to track the latest developments regarding your MRK stock.
MRK Feed
How to Buy Stock in Merck & Co
To summarize, here are the 6 steps you need to take to buy Merck & Co stock right now:
- Decide where to buy Merck & Co stock
- Create a brokerage account
- Put funds into your brokerage account
- Analyze Merck & Co stock
- Make your MRK trade
- Track your MRK position
If you need a brokerage account, eToro is our recommended option.
Get Started with eToro TodayIf you want to keep track of your investment in Merck & Co, click the button below.
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