Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Purchases 12,258 Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 45,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,258 shares during the quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $8,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 103,259.3% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 74,945,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,095,813,000 after acquiring an additional 74,873,326 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 105,777.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,772,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,617,156,000 after purchasing an additional 9,763,286 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $659,049,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,293,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,041,503,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,928 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Marsh & McLennan Companies during the second quarter worth about $303,203,000. 86.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 6th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised Marsh & McLennan Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $189.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $201.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 3,000 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.90, for a total value of $584,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 63,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,281,038.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 3,000 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.90, for a total value of $584,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 63,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,281,038.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO John Jude Jones sold 4,908 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.08, for a total value of $947,636.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 7,978 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,540,392.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Price Performance

Marsh & McLennan Companies stock opened at $197.86 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $193.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $187.92. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $151.86 and a one year high of $201.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $97.56 billion, a PE ratio of 28.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.97.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.18. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 34.01% and a net margin of 15.61%. The firm had revenue of $5.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 7.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 6th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 5th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.92%.

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 in two segments, Risk and Insurance Services, and Consulting. 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.