Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) Short Interest Update

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 99,142 shares, a growth of 20.3% from the March 15th total of 82,383 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 433,191 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days. Approximately 0.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MKKGY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Merck KGaA to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Merck KGaA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Merck KGaA Stock Performance

Shares of Merck KGaA stock traded up $0.99 on Friday, reaching $27.99. 15,455 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 124,274. Merck KGaA has a 52 week low of $23.73 and a 52 week high of $31.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.07 and a 200 day moving average of $27.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.44, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.19). Merck KGaA had a net margin of 12.31% and a return on equity of 9.03%. The company had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.20 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Merck KGaA will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

About Merck KGaA

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, commonly referred to as Merck Group, is a multinational science and technology company with origins dating back to 1668. The company develops and manufactures products and technologies across healthcare, life science and electronics applications. It is distinct from the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck & Co; Merck KGaA is a European group headquartered in Darmstadt and is publicly listed in Germany with an OTC American depositary receipt available under the symbol MKKGY.

Merck’s Healthcare business develops prescription medicines and related services focused on areas such as oncology, immunology, neurology (including therapies for multiple sclerosis) and fertility.