Marsh & McLennan's Arm Acquires Otis-Magie Insurance Agency

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) recently announced that Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC (“MMA”) closed the buyout of Otis-Magie Insurance Agency Inc. Notably, MMA is the middle market agency unit of Marsh, an arm of the parent company. Terms of the deal were, however, not disclosed by the companies.

Otis-Magie offers business insurance, employee benefits and personal insurance products and services to customers residing in northern Minnesota. With this transaction, the acquired company’s existing employees will continue to operate in their current locations under the brand of Otis-Magie, a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC company.

This unit of Marsh is dedicated to investing in and supporting the insurance and risk management needs of employers and individuals in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. MMA is really hopeful of providing better experience to clients in these regions because of the addition of Otis-Magie Insurance’s skilled battery of staff to the teams.

This is yet another strategic initiative of Marsh & McLennan to boost its portfolio. A number of acquisitions made over the past many years, significant capital expenditures undertaken for growth, launch of products and services, enhancement of digital capabilities and branching out into new businesses will further drive the company's growth.

In recent months, the company completed several buyouts such as Pavilion Financial Corporation, Summit Strategies Group, Klein Agency and Insurance Associates, Houston-based Wortham Insurance plus Eustis Insurance & Benefits. The company is also going to buy JLT Specialty, currently subject to certain closing conditions.

All these transactions further poise the company well for long-term growth.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have inched up 1.4% in a year’s time against its industry’s decline of 1%.

Stocks to Consider

Investors interested in the insurance industry might consider a few better-ranked stocks like Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:WLTW) , eHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ:EHTH) and Cigna Corporation (NYSE:CI) .

Willis Towers works as an advisory, broking and solutions company worldwide. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and managed to deliver positive results in the trailing four reported quarters, the average being 7.13%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

eHealth offers private online health insurance exchange services in the United States and China. It holds a Zacks Rank of 2 and came up with average three-quarter earnings surprise of 7.29%.

Cigna provides insurance and related products and services in the United States and internationally. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and pulled off average four-quarter beat of 13.46%.

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