Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $228.60.

A number of research firms have issued reports on MMC. Bank of America raised their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $248.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $242.00 target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $255.00 to $259.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $242.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Price Performance

NYSE MMC opened at $215.23 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $105.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.96. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 1 year low of $188.31 and a 1 year high of $235.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $218.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $221.06.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last issued its quarterly 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. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 16.82%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.68 EPS for the current year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a $0.815 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.55, for a total transaction of $553,875.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 48,549 shares in the company, valued at $10,756,030.95. This represents a 4.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marsh & McLennan Companies

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,710,000. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 6.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 100,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,348,000 after purchasing an additional 6,282 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,905,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,648,304,000 after purchasing an additional 251,361 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 508,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,384,000 after purchasing an additional 23,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kinsale Capital Group Inc. boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 27,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,024,000 after buying an additional 3,880 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Company Profile

Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc is a professional services firm, which engages in offering clients advice and solutions in risk, strategy, and people. It operates through the Risk and Insurance Services, and Consulting segments. The Risk and Insurance Services segment is involved in risk management activities, as well as insurance and reinsurance broking and services.