Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.82 (NYSE:MMC)

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.815 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th.

Marsh & McLennan Companies has increased its dividend by an average of 12.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 34.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Marsh & McLennan Companies to earn $9.45 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.5%.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Price Performance

Marsh & McLennan Companies stock opened at $223.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $109.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $224.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.35. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 1 year low of $184.02 and a 1 year high of $232.32.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.31 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 33.92% and a net margin of 16.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marsh & McLennan Companies

In other news, VP Stacy Mills sold 4,101 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.77, for a total transaction of $925,882.77. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $659,925.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Mark C. Mcgivney sold 10,265 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.41, for a total transaction of $2,324,098.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,625,035.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Stacy Mills sold 4,101 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.77, for a total value of $925,882.77. Following the completion of 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,735 shares of company stock valued at $4,897,317. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MMC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $228.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $235.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $236.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $216.41.

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.