Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Boosts Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) Price Target to $188.00

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) had its price target hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $185.00 to $188.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

MMC has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Marsh & McLennan Companies from a buy rating to a sell rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $215.00 to $185.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com lowered Marsh & McLennan Companies from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $190.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on Marsh & McLennan Companies in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a market perform rating and a $189.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $203.00.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Price Performance

MMC opened at $201.14 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $202.30 and a 200-day moving average of $196.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.71, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.90. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 12-month low of $167.81 and a 12-month high of $209.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 33.72% and a net margin of 16.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Stacy Mills sold 1,461 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.16, for a total transaction of $305,582.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $611,374.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, VP Stacy Mills sold 1,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.16, for a total transaction of $305,582.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,923 shares in the company, valued at $611,374.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Paul Beswick sold 2,169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.00, for a total transaction of $438,138.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,868,198. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,751 shares of company stock valued at $7,448,163 over the last three months. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MMC. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 343.3% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC bought a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Company 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.