Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Position in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. $MMC

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 132.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 188,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 107,085 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $41,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MMC. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 8,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,856,000 after acquiring an additional 2,960 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 39.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 3,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 869 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 8,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,020,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,858,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $697,471,000 after buying an additional 65,778 shares during the last quarter. 87.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MMC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Marsh & McLennan Companies in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $256.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $181.00 price target (down previously from $243.00) on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $243.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $221.00 to $206.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $223.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John Q. Doyle sold 21,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.22, for a total value of $3,841,015.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 87,681 shares in the company, valued at $15,977,231.82. The trade was a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:MMC opened at $181.77 on Friday. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.18 and a 12-month high of $248.00. The company has a market cap of $89.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $187.91 and a 200 day moving average of $203.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

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

Marsh & McLennan Companies Profile

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.