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

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Investors 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 annualized dividend 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 raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Merck & Co., Inc. has a payout ratio of 32.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $97.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $99.85 and a 200-day moving average of $108.13. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $246.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.44, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.