Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.81 on January 8th

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of 0.81 per share on Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Merck & Co., Inc. has a dividend payout ratio of 32.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Merck & Co., Inc. to earn $9.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.7%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $97.43 on Thursday. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.24. The firm has a market cap of $246.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company 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%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of several research reports. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.