MRSH

Marsh

$199.27

+4.57%
Oct 22, 2026
Bobby Quantitative Model
Marsh & McLennan (trading as MRSH) is a global professional services firm operating through two pillars: Risk and Insurance Services, which houses insurance brokerage Marsh and reinsurance specialist Guy Carpenter, and Consulting, which comprises Mercer's human-resource advisory and Oliver Wyman's management consulting. It is the scale leader in the insurance broking oligopoly, competing alongside Aon and Arthur J. Gallagher with a business model built on recurring commissions, fee-based advisory, and a roughly 50/50 US-international revenue split that provides natural geographic diversification. The current investor debate centers on whether the firm can sustain mid-single-digit organic growth and margin expansion as commercial insurance pricing moderates from the hard-market peak, while the consulting arm faces softer demand tied to corporate cost discipline. Recent quarters show revenue growth re-accelerating to roughly 6% year-over-year with improving operating leverage, and the stock's sharp late-October rally suggests investors are repositioning around the defensive, cash-generative quality of the franchise rather than cyclical growth optionality.

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MRSH 12-Month Price Forecast

Historical Price
Current Price $199.27
Average Target $199.27
High Target $229.16
Low Target $169.38

Wall Street consensus

Most Wall Street analysts maintain a constructive view on Marsh's 12-month outlook, with a consensus price target around $205.38 and implied upside of +3.1% versus the current price.

Average Target

$205.38

0 analysts

Implied Upside

+3.1%

vs. current price

Analyst Count

—

covering this stock

Price Range

$180 - $228

Analyst target range

Coverage is broad, with 21 analysts publishing estimates, but sentiment is decidedly lukewarm: the consensus recommendation is "hold" with a mean rating of 2.52 on a scale where 1 is Strong Buy and 5 is Strong Sell. The average target price of $204.52 implies roughly 8.6% upside from the current $188.35, a modest expected return that is consistent with a mature, defensive compounder rather than a high-conviction growth story. Consensus revenue of $31.69 billion and EPS of $12.57 for the forward period suggest analysts expect continued mid-single-digit growth with steady margin delivery, but the hold rating signals they see the stock as fairly valued after its recent run.

The target range of $180.00 to $228.00 is moderately wide — the high target implies about 21% upside and would require either multiple expansion toward the upper end of the historical PE band or an acceleration in organic growth and margin gains, while the low target of $180.00 sits just 4.4% below the current price and effectively prices in flat-to-modest execution with no re-rating. Recent institutional actions skew cautious: Citigroup downgraded to Neutral from Buy on July 22, 2026, while Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Mizuho maintained Equal Weight/Neutral stances, and only UBS, JP Morgan, Evercore ISI, and Cantor Fitzgerald remain constructive with Buy/Overweight/Outperform ratings. The clustering of neutral ratings around the current price suggests limited near-term catalyst visibility, and the stock's recent surge toward the top of the target range reduces the margin of safety for new positions.

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Bulls vs Bears: MRSH Investment Factors

The evidence is genuinely balanced but tilts modestly bearish on near-term risk/reward: the stock has rallied 6.56% in a month to $188.35, just 5.1% below its 52-week high of $198.49, while the analyst consensus is a 'hold' with only 8.6% average upside and a low target just 4.4% below the current price. The bull case rests on durable fundamentals — 6.17% revenue growth, 27.5% ROE, 5.3% FCF yield, and a forward PE of 16.4x that is far more reasonable than the 21.9x trailing multiple. The bear case rests on valuation and sentiment: the trailing PE sits mid-range versus history, the PEG of 7.85 (distorted by a near-zero $0.046 trailing EPS base) looks alarming on surface, and recent institutional actions skew cautious with Citigroup downgrading to Neutral in July 2026. The single most important tension is whether mid-single-digit organic growth can re-accelerate enough to justify multiple expansion toward the $228 high target, or whether moderating commercial insurance pricing and softer consulting demand cap the stock near consensus fair value.

Bullish

  • Forward PE of 16.4x looks reasonable: While the trailing PE of 21.9x appears full, the forward PE of 16.4x against consensus EPS of $12.57 represents roughly 25% multiple compression, implying the market is already discounting meaningful earnings growth rather than paying a premium for it.
  • Revenue growth stable at mid-single digits: Q2 2026 revenue of $7.404 billion grew 6.17% year-over-year from $6.974 billion, and Q1 2026 grew from $7.061 billion to $7.597 billion, showing consistent rather than decelerating expansion across the last four quarters.
  • Strong cash generation and capital returns: Trailing free cash flow of $4.767 billion against a $90.3 billion market cap implies an FCF yield of roughly 5.3%, comfortably funding $717 million of Q2 2026 buybacks and $438 million of dividends while still allowing $88 million of bolt-on acquisitions.
  • High returns on capital: ROE of 27.5% and ROA of 7.2% demonstrate the asset-light brokerage model's earning power, with a 25.6% Q2 2026 operating margin and 44.1% gross margin reflecting low marginal cost on incremental commission revenue.

Bearish

  • Analyst consensus is only hold: With 21 analysts covering, the mean recommendation of 2.52 maps to a 'hold', and the average target of $204.52 implies just 8.6% upside from $188.35 — a modest expected return for a stock already near the top of its range.
  • Limited upside to low target: The analyst low target of $180.00 sits only 4.4% below the current price, effectively pricing in flat-to-modest execution with no re-rating, while the high target of $228.00 requires either multiple expansion or an organic growth acceleration that current 6% growth does not yet support.
  • Valuation mid-range, not cheap: The 21.9x trailing PE sits in the middle of a two-year band that ranged from roughly 15.8x in Q2 2026 up to 33.1x in Q3 2025, and the 3.35x PS and 5.98x PB reflect a premium that leaves little margin of safety after the recent rally.
  • Leverage and working-capital intensity: Debt-to-equity of 1.42 and a current ratio of just 1.10 reflect a leveraged, working-capital-intensive model, and cash flow is seasonally lumpy — Q1 2026 operating cash flow was -$688 million versus +$2.161 billion in Q4 2025.

MRSH Technical Analysis

MRSH is in a sustained, if choppy, uptrend: the stock sits at $188.35 versus a 52-week range of $156.60 to $198.49, placing it at roughly 76% of that range and about 5.1% below its high. The 6-month change of +7.14% and 3-month change of +3.39% confirm a constructive primary trend, though the path has been volatile — the shares fell from a July peak near $197.59 to a September trough around $169 before recovering. Trading in the upper quartile of the annual range signals momentum is intact but leaves limited cushion against a pullback, and the 17.09% max drawdown over the period underscores that this is not a low-volatility grind higher.

Short-term momentum has clearly re-accelerated: the 1-month change of +6.56% dwarfs the 3-month +3.39% and 6-month +7.14%, meaning the last four weeks account for nearly all of the half-year gain. This is a meaningful acceleration rather than a divergence, and the relative-strength data corroborates it — MRSH beat SPY by 5.34 percentage points over the past month versus a 0.70-point edge over three months and a 0.34-point lag over six months. The stock's 1.81-point single-day gain on the latest session (+0.97%) came on volume of roughly 2.77 million shares, suggesting institutional participation in the breakout attempt rather than thin, retail-driven drift.

Key resistance sits at the 52-week high of $198.49, roughly 5.4% above the current price; a decisive break there would confirm a fresh leg higher and likely trigger momentum-fund accumulation. Support is anchored at the 52-week low of $156.60, about 16.9% below current levels, with an intermediate shelf in the $169-$171 zone where the September selloff repeatedly found buyers. The debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42 and the 17.09% max drawdown imply equity-like volatility with meaningful balance-sheet leverage, so position sizing should account for the possibility of a 10-15% retracement even within an intact uptrend; a close below $169 would break the higher-lows structure and shift the tactical bias to neutral.

Beta

0.58

0.58x market volatility

Max Drawdown

-17.1%

Largest decline past year

52-Week Range

$157-$200

Price range past year

Annual Return

—

Cumulative gain past year

PeriodMRSH ReturnS&P 500
1m+17.2%-1.2%
3m+10.3%+3.4%
6m+17.1%+7.0%
1y—+14.4%
ytd—+12.0%

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MRSH Fundamental Analysis

Revenue is growing at a healthy clip: Q2 2026 revenue of $7.404 billion rose 6.17% year-over-year from $6.974 billion, and the trailing four-quarter total of roughly $28.0 billion reflects consistent mid-single-digit expansion. The sequential trend is encouraging — Q1 2026 revenue of $7.597 billion grew from $7.061 billion a year earlier, and Q4 2025's $6.595 billion topped the prior-year $6.067 billion — indicating growth is stable rather than decelerating. Segment data for the latest period shows Risk and Insurance Services contributing $4.823 billion and Consulting $2.602 billion, so the insurance brokerage and reinsurance franchise remains the dominant growth engine at roughly 65% of revenue, with consulting providing a steadier, less cyclical complement. For a broker model, 6% top-line growth is solid and consistent with the industry's fee-and-commission compounding profile.

Profitability is robust and improving: Q2 2026 net income of $1.266 billion on a 17.1% net margin and 44.1% gross margin compares favorably with the year-ago quarter's $1.211 billion and 17.4% net margin, while operating income of $1.899 billion equates to a 25.6% operating margin. The multi-quarter arc shows margin resilience — Q1 2026 operating margin was 23.1% and Q4 2025 was 18.5%, with the seasonal pattern reflecting heavy Q1 compensation and benefits costs typical of professional services. Gross margin has held in the 40-46% band across the last eight quarters, and the 23.1% trailing operating margin and 15.4% net margin are consistent with the high-teens-to-mid-20s profitability typical of scaled insurance brokers, where the marginal cost of incremental commission revenue is low. The key watch item is whether consulting margins hold as corporate spending tightens.

Balance-sheet and cash-flow metrics are solid but not fortress-like: debt-to-equity of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.10 reflect the firm's leveraged, working-capital-intensive model, while trailing free cash flow of $4.767 billion against a $90.3 billion market cap implies an FCF yield of roughly 5.3%. ROE of 27.5% and ROA of 7.2% demonstrate strong returns on the capital employed, and the 1.88% dividend yield with a 40.8% payout ratio leaves ample room for continued buybacks — Q2 2026 alone saw $717 million of stock repurchased and $438 million of dividends paid. Cash flow is seasonally lumpy (Q1 2026 operating cash flow was -$688 million versus +$2.161 billion in Q4 2025), but the annual pattern comfortably funds dividends, buybacks, and bolt-on M&A such as the $88 million of acquisitions in Q2 2026.

Quarterly Revenue

$7.4B

2026-06

Revenue YoY Growth

+6.2%

YoY Comparison

Gross Margin

44.1%

Latest Quarter

Free Cash Flow

$4.8B

Last 12 Months

Revenue & Net Income Trends (2 Years)

Revenue Breakdown

Risk and Insurance Services
Consulting
Corporate/Eliminations

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Valuation Analysis: Is MRSH Overvalued?

Because MRSH is solidly profitable — Q2 2026 net income of $1.266 billion and trailing EPS positive — the PE ratio is the appropriate primary metric. The stock trades at 21.9x trailing earnings but only 16.4x forward earnings, a roughly 25% compression that implies the market expects meaningful EPS growth; consensus 2027 EPS of $12.57 versus the current run-rate supports that bridge. The 3.35x price-to-sales and 3.84x EV-to-sales multiples are the more relevant cross-checks for a fee-based broker, and the 14.75x EV/EBITDA sits in a reasonable range for a high-quality financial-services compounder.

Against the broader Financial Services sector, MRSH's 21.9x trailing PE and 3.35x PS represent a premium, though the exact industry-average spread is not available in the provided valuation data and should be treated as "Data not available" for a precise percentage. What can be quantified is the internal inconsistency: a PEG ratio of 7.85 looks expensive on surface, but that figure is distorted by a near-zero trailing EPS base ($0.046), whereas the forward PE of 16.4x against expected EPS of $12.57 implies a far more reasonable earnings multiple. The 5.98x price-to-book and 17.1x price-to-cash-flow reflect the asset-light, high-ROE nature of the brokerage model, where book value understates earning power and cash flow is the better anchor.

Historically, MRSH's own PE band has ranged widely — from roughly 15.8x in Q2 2026 and 18.3x in Q1 2026 up to 27.4x in Q4 2025 and 33.1x in Q3 2025 — so the current 21.9x trailing multiple sits in the middle of its two-year range rather than at an extreme. The price-to-sales ratio of 3.35x, however, is well below the 10.85x-15.58x readings recorded across 2025-2026 in the historical ratios data, a discrepancy that likely reflects a change in the share-count or revenue base used in the calculation and should be interpreted with caution. Net-net, the valuation is neither stretched nor cheap versus its own history, suggesting the market is pricing in steady execution rather than heroic multiple expansion.

PE

21.9x

Latest Quarter

vs. Historical

Low-End

5-Year PE Range 16x~44x

vs. Industry Avg

N/A

Industry PE ~N/A*

EV/EBITDA

14.8x

Enterprise Value Multiple

Investment Risk Disclosure

Financial and operational risks center on leverage and margin durability. Debt-to-equity of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.10 leave limited balance-sheet cushion, and interest expense of $250 million in Q2 2026 consumes a meaningful slice of the $1.702 billion pre-tax income. Cash flow is seasonally lumpy — Q1 2026 operating cash flow was -$688 million versus +$2.161 billion in Q4 2025 — so any disruption to the Q4 collection cycle would pressure the $4.767 billion trailing FCF that funds the 1.88% dividend (40.8% payout) and buybacks. Revenue concentration in Risk and Insurance Services at $4.823 billion, or roughly 65% of the $7.404 billion Q2 total, means a turn in commercial insurance pricing would hit the dominant profit engine directly, while the $2.602 billion consulting segment faces softer corporate spending.

Market and competitive risks are primarily valuation and cyclical. At 21.9x trailing earnings and 3.35x sales, MRSH trades at a premium to the broader Financial Services sector, and its own PE band has swung from 15.8x to 33.1x over two years — a compression back toward the low end would erase much of the recent gain. The stock's 17.09% max drawdown over the past six months and a 1.81-point single-day move on 2.77 million shares show equity-like volatility for what is ostensibly a defensive compounder. Competitive pressure from Aon and Arthur J. Gallagher in the broking oligopoly, plus moderating hard-market insurance pricing, could cap organic growth below the 6.17% delivered in Q2 2026, and Citigroup's July 2026 downgrade to Neutral signals sell-side conviction is already eroding.

The worst-case scenario is a synchronized downturn: commercial insurance pricing softens faster than expected, cutting Risk and Insurance commission growth; corporate cost discipline deepens, pressuring Mercer and Oliver Wyman consulting revenue; and multiple compression pulls the PE toward the 15.8x low end of its two-year range. In that chain, the stock could retrace to the September 2026 trough near $169 (about -10% from $188.35) and, in a deeper de-rating, toward the 52-week low of $156.60 — roughly -16.9% from the current price. The analyst low target of $180.00 (-4.4%) represents the mild version of this outcome, while a full re-rating to the low end of the historical PE band on unchanged forward EPS would imply a materially larger drawdown than the 17.09% max drawdown already experienced.