Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) Receives Underperform Rating from Bank of America

Bank of America reissued their underperform rating on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $181.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $243.00.

MMC has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $258.00 to $257.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $256.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $248.00 to $242.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $228.63.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Price Performance

Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock opened at $177.22 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $197.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.31. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 12 month low of $174.18 and a 12 month high of $248.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.34 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 31.79% and a net margin of 15.60%.The business’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.17%.

Insider Activity at Marsh & McLennan Companies

In other news, CEO John Q. Doyle sold 21,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.65, for a total transaction of $4,334,896.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 87,681 shares in the company, valued at $18,031,597.65. This trade represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies during the first quarter worth $25,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies during the third quarter worth $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies during the first quarter worth $28,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2,775.0% during the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies during the second quarter worth $29,000. 87.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Marsh & McLennan Companies

Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc is a professional services firm, which engages in offering clients advice and solutions in risk, strategy, and people. It operates through the Risk and Insurance Services, and Consulting segments. The Risk and Insurance Services segment is involved in risk management activities, as well as insurance and reinsurance broking and services.