Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) Given New $248.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Bank of America from $235.00 to $248.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 10.55% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on MMC. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $236.00 target price for the company. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $228.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $216.41.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Performance

MMC traded up $1.24 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $224.33. 379,284 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,669,502. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 1 year low of $184.02 and a 1 year high of $232.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $223.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.16.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.01. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.97% and a return on equity of 33.92%. The company had revenue of $6.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.20 EPS. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, SVP Paul Beswick sold 2,169 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $477,180.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,609,420. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Mark C. Mcgivney sold 10,265 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.41, for a total transaction of $2,324,098.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 33,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,625,035.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Paul Beswick sold 2,169 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $477,180.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,609,420. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,735 shares of company stock valued at $4,897,317 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 925,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $195,003,000 after buying an additional 23,133 shares during the period. Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. raised its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. now owns 1,404,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,134,000 after buying an additional 203,017 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 906,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $187,218,000 after buying an additional 100,378 shares during the period. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. raised its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 26.8% in the 1st quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 18,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,882,000 after buying an additional 3,984 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 68,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,086,000 after buying an additional 5,554 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

About Marsh & McLennan Companies

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.