Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.82 on November 15th

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.815 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th.

Marsh & McLennan Companies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 34.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Marsh & McLennan Companies to earn $9.44 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.5%.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MMC opened at $224.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $110.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.94. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a fifty-two week low of $184.02 and a fifty-two week high of $232.32. The business has a 50-day moving average of $223.20 and a 200 day moving average of $212.15.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Stacy Mills sold 4,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.77, for a total value of $925,882.77. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $659,925.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Marsh & McLennan Companies news, VP Stacy Mills sold 4,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.77, for a total value of $925,882.77. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,923 shares in the company, valued at $659,925.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Paul Beswick sold 2,169 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $477,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,609,420. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,735 shares of company stock worth $4,897,317 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MMC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $228.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on Marsh & McLennan Companies in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $236.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $215.53.

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.