Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Plans $0.81 Quarterly Dividend

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.32%.

Merck & Co., Inc. has increased its dividend by an average of 5.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Merck & Co., Inc. has a dividend payout ratio of 32.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Merck & Co., Inc. to earn $9.44 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 34.3%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.45 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $97.49. The stock had a trading volume of 12,839,592 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,051,533. The company has a market capitalization of $246.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.44, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $99.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.34.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.67.

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.