Merck & Co., Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.81 (NYSE:MRK)

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.81 per share on Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%.

Merck & Co., Inc. has increased its dividend by an average of 5.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Merck & Co., Inc. has a dividend payout ratio of 32.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Merck & Co., Inc. to earn $9.44 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.3%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $0.45 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $97.49. 12,839,592 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,051,533. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $99.83 and a 200 day moving average of $108.34. The company has a market cap of $246.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 target price (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.67.

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.