Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $214.25.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $223.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $228.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marsh & McLennan Companies

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, SVP Paul Beswick sold 2,169 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $477,180.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,609,420. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, SVP Paul Beswick sold 2,169 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $477,180.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,609,420. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Stacy Mills sold 4,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.77, for a total value of $925,882.77. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $659,925.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,735 shares of company stock valued at $6,151,377. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marsh & McLennan Companies

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,917,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,046,079,000 after acquiring an additional 119,236 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,624,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,188,348,000 after buying an additional 380,828 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,048,077,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,530,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $954,712,000 after buying an additional 223,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,259,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $807,060,000 after buying an additional 11,459 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Up 0.5 %

Marsh & McLennan Companies stock opened at $225.47 on Friday. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 1-year low of $184.02 and a 1-year high of $227.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $111.09 billion, a PE ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $217.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.22.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.01. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 33.92% and a net margin of 16.97%. The company had revenue of $6.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.20 earnings per share. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a $0.815 dividend. This represents a $3.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 25th. This is a positive change from Marsh & McLennan Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s payout ratio is currently 41.37%.

About Marsh & McLennan Companies

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc, a professional services company, provides advice and solutions to clients in the areas of risk, strategy, and people worldwide. It operates through Risk and Insurance Services, and Consulting segments. The Risk and Insurance Services segment offers risk management services, such as risk advice, risk transfer, and risk control and mitigation solutions, as well as insurance and reinsurance broking, strategic advisory services, and analytics solutions, and insurance program management services.