Piper Sandler Lowers Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) to Neutral

Piper Sandler cut shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $211.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $185.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a market perform rating and a $189.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $190.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from a buy rating to a sell rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $215.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $204.87.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MMC opened at $202.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $202.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.82. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 52-week low of $171.47 and a 52-week high of $209.20. The company has a market cap of $99.90 billion, a PE ratio of 25.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.90.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $2.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.09. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 34.14%. The business had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $305,582.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,374.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Mark C. Mcgivney sold 12,494 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.79, for a total value of $2,508,670.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,762,205.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Stacy Mills sold 1,461 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 2,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $611,374.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,751 shares of company stock worth $7,448,163. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marsh & McLennan Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MMC. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 Marsh & McLennan Companies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,048,077,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,243,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,940,789,000 after acquiring an additional 2,526,701 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,293,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,041,503,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075,928 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 331.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,830,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406,293 shares during the period. 87.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.