Toronto Dominion Bank Grows Stock Holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC)

Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 1.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 294,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,090 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $60,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,259,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $807,060,000 after acquiring an additional 11,459 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,180,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,078,000 after acquiring an additional 10,161 shares during the last quarter. Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. raised its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 16.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 12.4% in the first 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 last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 5.5% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MMC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $228.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $189.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $211.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $185.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Marsh & McLennan Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $214.25.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Trading Up 0.9 %

MMC traded up $1.91 during trading on Friday, hitting $217.97. 1,531,981 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,694,078. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $184.02 and a 1 year high of $221.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $212.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $204.77. The firm has a market cap of $107.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.94.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.01. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.97% and a return on equity of 33.92%. The company had revenue of $6.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.20 earnings per share. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 8.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This is an increase from Marsh & McLennan Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 25th. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.01, for a total value of $1,254,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Paul Beswick sold 2,169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $477,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,861 shares in the company, valued at $2,609,420. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,338 shares of company stock worth $2,187,012. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.