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

Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $207.69.

MMC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $212.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $208.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $190.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th.

Insider Transactions at Marsh & McLennan Companies

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, VP Stacy Mills sold 1,461 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.16, for a total value of $305,582.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,374.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Dean Michael Klisura sold 9,994 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $2,048,770.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,291,675. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,374.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,751 shares of company stock worth $7,448,163 in the last quarter. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marsh & McLennan Companies

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MMC. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 0.4% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 223,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,602,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,180,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,078,000 after purchasing an additional 10,161 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,381,000. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Marsh & McLennan Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,825,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:MMC opened at $203.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $100.39 billion, a PE ratio of 25.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.90. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a fifty-two week low of $171.47 and a fifty-two week high of $209.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.67.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.38 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 34.14%. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.53 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.04%.

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.