Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 451 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,450 shares of the company’s stock after selling 451 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 1.0% of Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inman Jager Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,369,000. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 64.3% during the 4th quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 12,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,269,000 after purchasing an additional 4,991 shares during the period. Absher Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 54,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,394,000 after buying an additional 18,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 137,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,684,000 after buying an additional 22,112 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $89.52 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $99.58 and its 200-day moving average is $107.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.33 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $226.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $15.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.