Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $9.67.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on Mercer International from $8.50 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. TD Securities boosted their target price on Mercer International from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. CIBC upgraded Mercer International from a “sector underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $8.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, January 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Mercer International to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Mercer International from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mercer International

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Mercer International stock. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) by 19.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Mercer International were worth $114,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors own 85.79% of the company’s stock.

Mercer International Price Performance

Shares of MERC stock opened at $10.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.37, a current ratio of 3.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53. The firm has a market cap of $671.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.76 and a beta of 1.38. Mercer International has a 12 month low of $7.01 and a 12 month high of $10.45.

Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The basic materials company reported ($0.80) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.74) by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $470.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $508.46 million. Mercer International had a negative return on equity of 29.17% and a negative net margin of 12.14%. Mercer International’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Mercer International will post -0.46 EPS for the current year.

Mercer International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 27th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 26th. Mercer International’s payout ratio is -8.24%.

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.