Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) Shares Sold by Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC reduced its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 57,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,853 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $11,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,259,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $807,060,000 after buying an additional 11,459 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,180,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $221,078,000 after buying an additional 10,161 shares during the period. Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. now owns 1,404,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,134,000 after buying an additional 203,017 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 906,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $187,218,000 after buying an additional 100,378 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. 87.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.01, for a total transaction of $1,254,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 53,393 shares in the company, valued at $11,159,670.93. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Paul Beswick sold 2,169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.13, for a total value of $455,771.97. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,737,993.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.01, for a total value of $1,254,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 53,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,159,670.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,338 shares of company stock worth $2,187,012 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MMC traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $216.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,467,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,695,113. The firm has a market cap of $106.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $184.02 and a 1 year high of $221.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $210.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $203.65.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.31 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 16.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.20 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 8.68 EPS for the current year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.815 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 25th. This is a positive change from Marsh & McLennan Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MMC. Bank of America raised their price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $223.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $185.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $228.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $214.25.

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.