Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.77

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.77 per share on Monday, October 7th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th.

Merck & Co., Inc. has raised its dividend by an average of 6.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Merck & Co., Inc. has a payout ratio of 31.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Merck & Co., Inc. to earn $9.96 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 30.9%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $1.54 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $125.92. The stock had a trading volume of 6,279,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,295,311. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $128.46 and its 200-day moving average is $126.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $318.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.36.

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.