Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) Shares Acquired by Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 25,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,302 shares during the quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $5,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MMC. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,072,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $860,824,000 after buying an additional 1,823,807 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 7,320.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,108,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $235,511,000 after buying an additional 1,093,817 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $207,278,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 29,648.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 688,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $146,346,000 after buying an additional 686,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,445,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,784,190,000 after buying an additional 518,185 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MMC shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $242.00 price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research report on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective (up previously from $240.00) on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $214.00 to $210.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $242.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marsh & McLennan Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.44.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Trading Down 0.4 %

Marsh & McLennan Companies stock opened at $235.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.61 billion, a PE ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.95. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.17 and a 52 week high of $241.84.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.12. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 32.60% and a net margin of 16.60%. Equities research analysts forecast that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were issued a $0.815 dividend. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s payout ratio is currently 39.80%.

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.