Short Interest in Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) Decreases By 25.8%

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 82,383 shares, a decrease of 25.8% from the February 26th total of 110,989 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 434,341 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.2 days.

Merck KGaA Price Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS MKKGY opened at $24.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.96. Merck KGaA has a twelve month low of $23.73 and a twelve month high of $31.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $28.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.19). Merck KGaA had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 12.31%.The business had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.20 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Merck KGaA will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MKKGY shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Merck KGaA to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Merck KGaA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Merck KGaA Company Profile

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, commonly referred to as Merck Group, is a multinational science and technology company with origins dating back to 1668. The company develops and manufactures products and technologies across healthcare, life science and electronics applications. It is distinct from the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck & Co; Merck KGaA is a European group headquartered in Darmstadt and is publicly listed in Germany with an OTC American depositary receipt available under the symbol MKKGY.

Merck’s Healthcare business develops prescription medicines and related services focused on areas such as oncology, immunology, neurology (including therapies for multiple sclerosis) and fertility.