SlateStone Wealth LLC Purchases New Holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC)

SlateStone Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 343.3% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MMC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $215.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $185.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $236.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $207.69.

Insider Activity at Marsh & McLennan Companies

In related news, CEO Dean Michael Klisura sold 9,994 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $2,048,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,291,675. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Dean Michael Klisura sold 9,994 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $2,048,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,291,675. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Stacy Mills sold 1,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were 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 directly owns 2,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $611,374.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,751 shares of company stock valued at $7,448,163 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MMC traded down $2.18 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $199.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 199,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,718,333. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $203.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.04. The company has a market capitalization of $98.31 billion, a PE ratio of 25.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $171.47 and a fifty-two week high of $209.20.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $2.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.38 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 34.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.04%.

Marsh & McLennan Companies 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.