Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) Price Target Raised to $10.50

Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) had its price target upped by Raymond James from $8.50 to $10.50 in a research report report published on Friday, BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. CIBC upgraded shares of Mercer International from a sector underperform rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $8.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, January 12th. TD Securities upped their price objective on Mercer International from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Mercer International from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Mercer International to a sell rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mercer International presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $9.67.

Mercer International Price Performance

NASDAQ:MERC opened at $9.65 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.09. Mercer International has a 52 week low of $7.01 and a 52 week high of $10.42. The stock has a market cap of $642.01 million, a PE ratio of -2.65 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.37, a current ratio of 3.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53.

Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Mercer International had a negative return on equity of 29.17% and a negative net margin of 12.14%. The business had revenue of $470.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $508.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Mercer International will post -0.63 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 26th. Mercer International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -8.24%.

Institutional Trading of Mercer International

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Mercer International stock. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 34,446 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,000. SG Americas Securities LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Mercer International as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.79% of the company’s stock.

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.