BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Acquires 24,101 Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. $MMC

Key Points

• BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. by 59.5%, acquiring an additional 24,101 shares, bringing its total holdings to 64,627 shares valued at approximately $15.77 million.
• Marsh & McLennan reported a 12.1% year-over-year increase in revenue for the quarter, with earnings per share of $2.72, exceeding analyst expectations.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.82 to $0.90, representing an annualized payout of $3.60 and a yield of 1.7%.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC - Free Report) by 59.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,627 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 24,101 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $15,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MMC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 54.2% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,814,788 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,127,193,000 after buying an additional 4,505,548 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the first quarter worth about $1,038,594,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 32,120.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,515,670 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $369,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,510,966 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 153.6% in the first quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,370,678 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $578,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,436,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,719,830 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $790,129,000 after purchasing an additional 759,573 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $226.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $261.00 to $258.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $214.00 to $210.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $249.00 to $233.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $225.00 to $220.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $238.76.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Price Performance

Marsh & McLennan Companies stock traded down $0.7270 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $210.3830. 1,467,076 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,517,538. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $196.27 and a one year high of $248.00. The stock has a market cap of $103.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $210.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $222.98.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.06. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.00% and a return on equity of 31.90%. The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.41 earnings per share. Marsh & McLennan Companies's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 24th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 24th. This is a boost from Marsh & McLennan Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Marsh & McLennan Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.17%.

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.