New York, Feb 10, 2026, 12:19 ET — Regular session
- Merck slid roughly 0.5% by midday, with insider filings flagging both stock disposals and intended future sales.
- On Feb. 9, two executives filed paperwork for transactions as required by SEC rules.
Merck & Co fell 0.5% to $117.01 on Tuesday, slipping further as the market processed new insider trading filings. Shares swung from $116.10 up to $118.14.
Just a week after Merck, headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, put out its 2026 revenue forecast—$65.5 billion to $67.0 billion, shy of what analysts were looking for—the drugmaker detailed a raft of headwinds. Older products, including its diabetes pill Januvia, are set to lose patent protection. Merck’s expecting a $2.5 billion drag in 2026 as generics move in, Medicare price talks kick in, and demand drops for its COVID-19 drug Lagevrio. Yet Keytruda, the cancer blockbuster, posted a 7% bump in fourth-quarter sales to $8.37 billion. Evan Seigerman at BMO Capital Markets called the quarter “a reasonable foundation” for 2026, though he noted the guidance “could temper expectations.” CEO Rob Davis pointed to “legacy products” going off patent as the main issue behind Wall Street’s skepticism. Reuters
So, even standard insider transactions sometimes draw extra attention. They leave Merck’s outlook unchanged, though they can muddy the waters as investors gauge growth prospects following a string of acquisitions and product launches.
Chief Marketing Officer Chirfi Guindo unloaded 10,000 shares on Feb. 9, according to a Form 4 filed with the SEC. The stock changed hands at a weighted average price of $118.4101 in a series of trades clustered within a tight price range, the filing shows.
Executive Vice President and General Counsel Jennifer Zachary exercised options on 121,573 shares, according to another Form 4, and sold all of them on Feb. 9 at a weighted average price of $119.1522. The filing detailed sales split over several trades, with prices between $118.96 and $119.51.
Separate Form 144 filings — the required documentation for planned sales under SEC Rule 144 — showed Guindo looking to sell 20,000 shares and Zachary aiming for 121,573 shares. The total market values on the forms: around $2.37 million for Guindo, about $14.49 million for Zachary.
Merck lagged as the broader market ticked higher. The S&P 500 ETF edged up 0.1%. Health care shares, as tracked by the sector ETF, barely budged. Pfizer picked up close to 2%, but Eli Lilly dropped almost 1.4%.
Merck continues to tout its pipeline and new launches, highlighting Winrevair, a pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment. In its latest quarterly update, the company said the FDA has accepted a supplemental application to update Winrevair’s U.S. label, pinning a Sept. 21, 2026 PDUFA date as the decision deadline. Also noted: a Phase 2 trial in a related type of pulmonary hypertension tied to heart failure hit its main target.
The risks haven’t exactly shrunk. Investors counting on Merck’s next act are still staring down a lineup: old-line brands under strain, unpredictable Gardasil demand out of China, and late-stage trial results that can’t afford to falter—any slip here would sting.
Merck’s first-quarter earnings call is coming up April 30, set for 9:00 a.m. ET, and investors will be tuning in for any word on 2026 projections and how quickly the newer products are scaling.
