Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.85 on January 8th

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.85 per share on Thursday, January 8th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This is a 4.9% increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81.

Merck & Co., Inc. has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Merck & Co., Inc. has a payout ratio of 35.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Merck & Co., Inc. to earn $9.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.3%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded up $1.32 on Friday, hitting $100.33. The company had a trading volume of 11,800,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,431,184. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $105.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $249.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $92.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.22. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 44.54% and a net margin of 29.63%.The company had revenue of $17.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.57 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Painted Porch Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Severin Investments LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 140.0% in the 3rd quarter. Severin Investments LLC now owns 12,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 7,274 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 123,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,380,000 after buying an additional 3,804 shares during the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,157,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,160,000 after buying an additional 42,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 832,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,881,000 after buying an additional 49,541 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.