Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) Downgraded to Neutral at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler cut shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $211.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

MMC has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $190.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $185.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $212.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $204.87.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Up 0.3 %

MMC stock opened at $202.41 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $202.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $196.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.14. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a fifty-two week low of $171.47 and a fifty-two week high of $209.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.69, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.90.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.09. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 34.14%. The firm had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.53 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dean Michael Klisura sold 9,994 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction 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 the SEC website. In related news, VP Stacy Mills sold 1,461 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dean Michael Klisura sold 9,994 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $2,048,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,291,675. 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 three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MMC. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 105,777.7% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,772,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,617,156,000 after acquiring an additional 9,763,286 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Marsh & McLennan Companies in the fourth quarter worth $1,048,077,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,243,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,940,789,000 after acquiring an additional 2,526,701 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,293,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,041,503,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 331.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,830,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $311,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406,293 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Company 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.