Kentucky Retirement Systems Cuts Stock Position in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC)

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 7.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 34,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,872 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $7,643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 3.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,624,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,188,348,000 after acquiring an additional 380,828 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 5.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,530,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $954,712,000 after buying an additional 223,257 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,409,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $718,368,000 after acquiring an additional 58,461 shares during the period. Jensen Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,226,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $679,837,000 after buying an additional 40,182 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 5.7% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,262,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $465,929,000 after purchasing an additional 121,260 shares in the last quarter. 87.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MMC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays started coverage on Marsh & McLennan Companies in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $236.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group lifted 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. Bank of America increased their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $248.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $220.00 target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marsh & McLennan Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $225.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 2,500 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MMC opened at $222.14 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $184.28 and a one year high of $232.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $224.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $217.89.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.02. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 16.82%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.57 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 8.7 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.815 dividend. This represents a $3.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.15%.

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.