Short Interest in Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) Decreases By 90.1%

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 9,648 shares, a decrease of 90.1% from the June 30th total of 97,736 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 82,218 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.1 days.

Merck KGaA Stock Down 0.2%

Merck KGaA stock opened at $31.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.06, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.51. Merck KGaA has a fifty-two week low of $23.73 and a fifty-two week high of $34.19. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.99.

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $6.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.93 billion. Merck KGaA had a return on equity of 8.79% and a net margin of 12.07%. Equities research analysts expect that Merck KGaA will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MKKGY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC raised shares of Merck KGaA to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Merck KGaA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Merck KGaA in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

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.