Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Trims Stock Position in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lessened its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 594,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 23,743 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $112,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ignite Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 4.3% in the third quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 1,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 4.7% in the second quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.6% during the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Down 0.5 %

MMC traded down $1.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $196.29. 1,493,507 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,694,056. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $171.47 and a fifty-two week high of $209.20. The company has a market cap of $96.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $202.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.64.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.05. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 33.72%. The firm had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MMC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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 note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $189.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI upped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $215.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $204.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, CEO Martine Ferland sold 9,128 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.63, for a total transaction of $1,840,478.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,012,065.77. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Martine Ferland sold 9,128 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.63, for a total value of $1,840,478.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,012,065.77. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dean Michael Klisura sold 9,994 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $2,048,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.35% 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.