Railway Pension Investments Ltd Purchases 12,000 Shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. $MMC

Railway Pension Investments Ltd raised its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) by 13.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,000 shares during the quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings in Marsh & McLennan Companies were worth $22,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 225.1% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,051,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $229,803,000 after acquiring an additional 727,714 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 1.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,158,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,092,108,000 after purchasing an additional 837,117 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 218,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,692,000 after purchasing an additional 34,400 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 48,212.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,629,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $574,845,000 after purchasing an additional 2,623,745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 48.6% in the second quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 8,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,806 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, CEO John Q. Doyle sold 21,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.65, for a total transaction of $4,334,896.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 87,681 shares in the company, valued at $18,031,597.65. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MMC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Marsh & McLennan Companies in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $221.00 to $206.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Marsh & McLennan Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $209.00 to $191.00 in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $222.00 to $212.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Marsh & McLennan Companies from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, October 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $224.56.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Price Performance

Marsh & McLennan Companies stock opened at $183.51 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.00, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.78. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.18 and a 52-week high of $248.00.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.07. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 15.60% and a return on equity of 31.79%. The company had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. will post 9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.