Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates 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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.01, RTT News reports. 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 net margin of 16.97% and a return on equity of 33.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.20 earnings per share.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Down 0.3 %

MMC stock opened at $216.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a fifty-two week low of $184.02 and a fifty-two week high of $221.71. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $211.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.94. The stock has a market cap of $106.80 billion, a PE ratio of 27.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 25th will be issued a $0.815 dividend. This represents a $3.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 25th. This is a boost from Marsh & McLennan Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MMC. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. 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 note on Monday, April 22nd. 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 note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $212.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Marsh & McLennan Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $214.25.

About Marsh & McLennan Companies

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.