Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.85 Per Share

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of 0.85 per share on Thursday, January 8th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This is a 4.9% increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81.

Merck & Co., Inc. has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Merck & Co., Inc. has a payout ratio of 33.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Merck & Co., Inc. to earn $9.90 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 32.7%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:MRK opened at $96.32 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $105.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $239.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.34. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.52.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $17.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.57 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.930-8.980 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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.