Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) Short Interest Update

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 75,400 shares, a decrease of 42.1% from the April 15th total of 130,134 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 198,917 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Merck KGaA Price Performance

OTCMKTS MKKGY traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.17. The stock had a trading volume of 67,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 96,962. Merck KGaA has a 52-week low of $23.73 and a 52-week high of $31.00. The company has a market cap of $17.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.14. Merck KGaA had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 12.07%.The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.93 billion. Equities analysts forecast 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.