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

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 23rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors 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 yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th.

Merck & Co., Inc. has raised its dividend payment 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 31.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Merck & Co., Inc. to earn $9.70 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 31.8%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $115.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $293.45 billion, a PE ratio of 128.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $118.78 and its 200-day moving average is $124.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.