Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Boosts Holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC)

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $15,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MMC. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 18.8% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Kingfisher Capital LLC raised its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kingfisher Capital LLC now owns 1,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 8,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,887,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.55, for a total value of $553,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 48,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,756,030.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $219.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $232.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $220.00 target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $255.00 to $259.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marsh & McLennan Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $225.33.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock traded up $2.18 on Friday, hitting $225.36. The company had a trading volume of 2,395,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,808,196. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.94. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $184.28 and a 1 year high of $232.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $224.83 and a 200-day moving average of $217.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.71 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 16.82%. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.57 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 8.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.815 dividend. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.15%.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Profile

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.