Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 16th

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 23rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of 0.77 per share on Monday, October 7th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th.

Merck & Co., Inc. has raised its dividend by an average of 6.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Merck & Co., Inc. has a payout ratio of 31.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Merck & Co., Inc. to earn $9.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.8%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $115.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $118.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.62. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $293.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.