Short Interest in Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) Drops By 25.8%

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 82,383 shares, a drop of 25.8% from the February 26th total of 110,989 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 434,341 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.2 days. Currently, 0.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Merck KGaA Stock Down 1.9%

OTCMKTS MKKGY opened at $24.04 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $15.53 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.96. Merck KGaA has a 52 week low of $23.73 and a 52 week high of $31.00.

Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.20 billion. Merck KGaA had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 12.31%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck KGaA will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MKKGY. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Merck KGaA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Merck KGaA to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Merck KGaA 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.