Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.01, RTT News reports. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.97% and a return on equity of 33.92%. The firm had revenue of $6.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Price Performance

Marsh & McLennan Companies stock opened at $216.75 on Friday. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 12-month low of $184.02 and a 12-month high of $221.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $211.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $203.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 25th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Paul Beswick sold 2,169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,609,420. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 6,000 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 53,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,159,670.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Paul Beswick sold 2,169 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $477,180.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,609,420. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,338 shares of company stock valued at $2,187,012. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $185.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $236.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $223.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $197.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $214.25.

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.