Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) Share Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average of $8.95

Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U)’s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $8.95 and traded as high as $10.04. Mercer International shares last traded at $10.03, with a volume of 132,985 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MERC. StockNews.com raised shares of Mercer International to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. TD Securities lowered their price target on shares of Mercer International from $10.00 to $9.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Mercer International from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mercer International from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, CIBC raised shares of Mercer International from a “sector underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $8.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, January 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mercer International currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.17.

Mercer International Price Performance

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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $674.61 million, a P/E ratio of -2.79 and a beta of 1.38.

Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) last issued 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 net margin of 12.14% and a negative return on equity of 29.17%. The business had revenue of $470.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $508.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mercer International Inc. will post -0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercer International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 27th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 26th. Mercer International’s dividend payout ratio is -8.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mercer International by 2.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 436,073 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,519,000 after purchasing an additional 12,335 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mercer International by 13.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 264,007 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,265,000 after purchasing an additional 31,879 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Mercer International by 8.4% in the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 68,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $591,000 after purchasing an additional 5,313 shares during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department grew its holdings in shares of Mercer International by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 51,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 23,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its stake in Mercer International by 21.5% in the third quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 50,254 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $618,000 after acquiring an additional 8,906 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.