Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) Short Interest Down 42.1% in April

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 75,400 shares, a drop of 42.1% from the April 15th total of 130,134 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 198,917 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MKKGY. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Merck KGaA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Merck KGaA to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Merck KGaA Price Performance

Shares of Merck KGaA stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $27.70. 89,407 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 118,717. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Merck KGaA has a fifty-two week low of $23.73 and a fifty-two week high of $31.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.92 and a 200 day moving average of $27.56.

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.93 billion. Merck KGaA had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 12.07%. On average, analysts predict that Merck KGaA will post 1.83 EPS 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.