Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $27.86, but opened at $29.24. Merck KGaA shares last traded at $29.1570, with a volume of 814 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MKKGY shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Merck KGaA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Merck KGaA to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Merck KGaA Stock Up 0.5%

The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $19.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.63.

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.93 billion. Merck KGaA had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 12.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck KGaA will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Merck KGaA

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.