Merck, a major pharmaceutical, generated $9.78 billion in net income for the year ended December 31, 2019.
1. The company paid $5.82 billion in dividends during 2019.
2. Merck stock was selling for $73.59 per share on January 1 , 2019, and for $90.95 per share on December 31, 2019.
3. As of January 1, 2019, the company had 2.59 billion shares of common stock outstanding. During 2019, the company repurchased 66 million of its own shares. Assume that the purchases were made evenly throughout the year.

a. Compute the following ratios:
(l) Earnings per share
(2) Price/earnings
(3) Dividend yield
(4) Stock price return

b. What effect (increase, decrease, or no effect) did each of the three events above have on Merck's return on equity ratio?