Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.82 (NYSE:MMC)

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 15th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.815 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%.

Marsh & McLennan Companies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 15.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 31.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Marsh & McLennan Companies to earn $9.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.7%.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MMC stock traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $212.51. The company had a trading volume of 2,128,346 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,974,274. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 1-year low of $188.31 and a 1-year high of $235.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $104.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50 day moving average of $219.17 and a 200 day moving average of $221.15.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.71 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 16.82%. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.57 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 48,549 shares in the company, valued at $10,756,030.95. This trade represents a 4.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MMC. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $219.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $236.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Marsh & McLennan Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $228.60.

About Marsh & McLennan Companies

Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc is a professional services firm, which engages in offering clients advice and solutions in risk, strategy, and people. It operates through the Risk and Insurance Services, and Consulting segments. The Risk and Insurance Services segment is involved in risk management activities, as well as insurance and reinsurance broking and services.