Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) Hits New 1-Year High at $197.92

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $197.92 and last traded at $197.26, with a volume of 214963 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $196.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MMC shares. Raymond James upped their price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $202.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $197.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Marsh & McLennan Companies from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $195.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.23.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $191.09 and a 200-day moving average of $179.38.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.08. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 33.69% and a net margin of 15.20%. The firm had revenue of $5.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 27th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Marsh & McLennan Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 26th. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.90, for a total transaction of $584,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 63,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,281,038.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.90, for a total transaction of $584,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 63,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,281,038.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark C. Mcgivney sold 70,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.53, for a total value of $13,006,766.18. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 33,678 shares in the company, valued at $6,248,279.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 86,082 shares of company stock worth $16,085,453 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marsh & McLennan Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MMC. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 103,259.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 74,945,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,095,813,000 after purchasing an additional 74,873,326 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 105,777.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,772,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,617,156,000 after purchasing an additional 9,763,286 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the 4th quarter worth $659,049,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,293,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,041,503,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 145.9% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,262,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $539,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,935,638 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.64% of the company’s stock.

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 in two segments, Risk and Insurance Services, and Consulting. 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.