Mercer International Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.08 (NASDAQ:MERC)

Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 26th will be given a dividend of 0.075 per share by the basic materials company on Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.56%.

Mercer International has raised its dividend by an average of 4.9% per year over the last three years. Mercer International has a payout ratio of 103.4% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Mercer International to earn ($0.29) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -103.4%.

Mercer International Price Performance

Shares of MERC opened at $6.58 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.46. Mercer International has a twelve month low of $5.33 and a twelve month high of $11.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 2.39 and a current ratio of 3.79.

Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.23. Mercer International had a negative return on equity of 17.62% and a negative net margin of 9.33%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mercer International will post -1.44 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MERC shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Mercer International in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Mercer International from $7.50 to $7.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.25.

About Mercer International

Mercer International Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) and northern bleached hardwood kraft (NBHK) pulp worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Pulp and Solid Wood. It manufactures, sells, and distributes pulp, electricity, and chemicals through pulp mills.