Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Buys 8,939 Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 8.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 117,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,939 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $26,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,530,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $954,712,000 after purchasing an additional 223,257 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.0% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,274,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $953,683,000 after purchasing an additional 85,754 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,409,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $718,368,000 after buying an additional 58,461 shares during the last quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,226,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $679,837,000 after buying an additional 40,182 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,703,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $603,205,000 after acquiring an additional 30,367 shares during the period. 87.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MMC. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $255.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $220.00 price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $212.00 to $211.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $248.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $227.60.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:MMC opened at $229.63 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $218.93. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $184.28 and a 12 month high of $232.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.02. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 16.82%. The business had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 8.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.815 dividend. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s payout ratio is currently 40.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.55, for a total transaction of $553,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 48,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,756,030.95. The trade was a 4.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

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.