$5.53 Billion in Sales Expected for Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) This Quarter

Wall Street analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC – Get Rating) will report sales of $5.53 billion for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Five analysts have issued estimates for Marsh & McLennan Companies’ earnings. The highest sales estimate is $5.71 billion and the lowest is $5.44 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies posted sales of $5.08 billion during the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year over year growth rate of 8.9%. The company is scheduled to announce its next earnings results before the market opens on Monday, January 1st.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies will report full year sales of $21.15 billion for the current year, with estimates ranging from $20.73 billion to $21.88 billion. For the next year, analysts forecast that the firm will post sales of $22.44 billion, with estimates ranging from $21.99 billion to $23.34 billion. Zacks’ sales calculations are a mean average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that follow Marsh & McLennan Companies.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.93 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 30.91% and a net margin of 15.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share.

A number of brokerages have commented on MMC. StockNews.com downgraded Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $167.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 14th. Bank of America downgraded Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $168.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $154.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 6th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, Zacks Investment Research cut Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $161.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.77.

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, CEO Martine Ferland sold 4,797 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.28, for a total value of $759,269.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Paul Beswick sold 1,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.21, for a total value of $306,637.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Icon Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Icon Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,362,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Ellevest Inc. grew its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 2,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 2,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 61,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,532,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Advisors grew its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 7,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.85% of the company’s stock.

NYSE:MMC opened at $172.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $162.86. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a one year low of $126.57 and a one year high of $175.12. The company has a market capitalization of $86.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.97.

Marsh & McLennan Companies announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, March 23rd that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.535 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 5th. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s payout ratio is 34.91%.

About Marsh & McLennan Companies (Get Rating)

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, catastrophe and financial modeling, and related advisory services; and insurance program management services.

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