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 paid 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 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th.

Merck & Co., Inc. has raised its dividend by an average of 5.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Merck & Co., Inc. has a dividend payout ratio of 32.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Merck & Co., Inc. to earn $9.90 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 32.7%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $94.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.07, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $81.04 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $93.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by ($0.13). Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The firm had revenue of $15.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, Director Inge G. Thulin purchased 2,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $88.25 per share, with a total value of $250,012.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $258,837.25. This represents a 2,833.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cristal N. Downing sold 2,361 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $209,562.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $628,864.60. This trade represents a 24.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 29.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 38,278 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,710 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. TD Securities downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.12.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.