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

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the fifteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $227.60.

MMC has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $255.00 to $259.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $242.00 target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a report on Monday. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $248.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.55, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marsh & McLennan Companies

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 4,991.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 693,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $146,047,000 after acquiring an additional 679,474 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,445,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,784,190,000 after acquiring an additional 518,185 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 127.9% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 899,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $200,718,000 after acquiring an additional 504,897 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 31,846.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 427,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,430,000 after acquiring an additional 426,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 93.9% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 761,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $160,563,000 after acquiring an additional 368,970 shares during the last quarter. 87.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Performance

NYSE MMC opened at $233.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 1 year low of $184.28 and a 1 year high of $235.21. The company has a market capitalization of $114.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $224.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $219.50.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.57 earnings per share. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.815 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.15%.

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.