Ballast Inc. Buys 135 Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC)

Ballast Inc. lifted its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the third quarter worth about $28,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the third quarter worth about $28,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in the third quarter worth about $32,000. 87.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MMC. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $189.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $186.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $215.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $202.71.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock opened at $205.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.35, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $200.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.03. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.37 and a 52 week high of $209.20.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.05. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 33.72%. The firm had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, VP Stacy Mills sold 1,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.16, for a total transaction of $305,582.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,374.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP Stacy Mills sold 1,461 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.16, for a total transaction of $305,582.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,374.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dean Michael Klisura sold 9,994 shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $2,048,770.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,291,675. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,751 shares of company stock valued at $7,448,163. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Company 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.