Rainer Rettig Purchases 4,000 Shares of Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) Stock

Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) Director Rainer Rettig bought 4,000 shares of Mercer International stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $6.10 per share, for a total transaction of $24,400.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 46,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,424.30. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Rainer Rettig also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, September 9th, Rainer Rettig purchased 5,000 shares of Mercer International stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $6.24 per share, for a total transaction of $31,200.00.

Mercer International Stock Performance

Shares of MERC stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $6.13. The company had a trading volume of 701,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 277,760. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a current ratio of 3.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $7.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.69. Mercer International Inc. has a one year low of $5.33 and a one year high of $11.20. The firm has a market cap of $409.91 million, a PE ratio of -1.79 and a beta of 1.34.

Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) (TSE:MRI.U) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The basic materials company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $499.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $482.35 million. Mercer International had a negative return on equity of 17.93% and a negative net margin of 9.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.48) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Mercer International Inc. will post -1.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercer International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 25th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 25th. Mercer International’s dividend payout ratio is -8.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mercer International

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MERC. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mercer International by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 51,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 10,713 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in Mercer International in the first quarter worth approximately $193,000. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mercer International during the 1st quarter worth $261,000. 85.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MERC. CIBC lowered their price target on shares of Mercer International from $10.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Mercer International from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mercer International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.38.

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.