Ascent Group LLC Sells 624 Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC)

Ascent Group LLC cut its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 624 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $3,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MMC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 4,991.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 693,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $146,047,000 after purchasing an additional 679,474 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,445,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,784,190,000 after purchasing an additional 518,185 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 127.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 899,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $200,718,000 after purchasing an additional 504,897 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 31,846.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 427,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,430,000 after purchasing an additional 426,425 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 93.9% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 761,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $160,563,000 after purchasing an additional 368,970 shares during the period. 87.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on MMC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $255.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $217.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $232.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $212.00 to $211.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $227.60.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Trading Down 0.0 %

MMC opened at $233.23 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.54 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.94. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $184.28 and a 1-year high of $235.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $224.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $219.89.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.71 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.57 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 8.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.815 dividend. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.55, for a total value of $553,875.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 48,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,756,030.95. This trade represents a 4.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% 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.