Marsh & McLennan Wading Through

Tags: mmc, mhp, mco
11 Oct 12:15am
Posted by ZacksResearch
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Formed in 1871, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (or MMC) (MMC) has long been the world's leading insurance broker, currently operating under the Marsh and Guy Carpenter brands. The company's rapid growth is mainly attributed to its aggressive merger and acquisition strategy. MMC s organization structure and segment reporting is based on the types of services it provides through approximately 55,000 employees worldwide to clients in more than 100 countries.

While we are optimistic about initiatives being taken by the new management team, we do not anticipate any significant improvement anytime soon, due to the current pricing environment. Based on 2Q08 earnings results, we are slightly increasing our estimates for FY08 and FY09, while our Hold recommendation on the shares and our six-month target price ($31.00 per share) remain unchanged.

In December 2007, S&P announced a downgrade of its senior debt credit rating to BBB-, which is the lowest possible investment grade rating for S&P (MHP). Currently, rating by Moody's (MCO) on MMC's senior debt stands at Baa2, which is the next-to-lowest investment grade rating for Moody's.

Read the full analyst report on MMC.

Read the full analyst report on MHP.

Read the full analyst report on MCO.



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