Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC Has $1.68 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,712 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,391 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 1.2% of Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,677,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $125.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $318.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.83, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $129.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.