Forsta AP Fonden Reduces Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Forsta AP Fonden cut its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 21.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 53,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,940 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $13,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at $1,925,062,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at $5,127,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at $458,000. National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 508,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $131,572,000 after buying an additional 30,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at $1,371,000. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 3,800 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.57, for a total transaction of $864,766.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,552,814.40. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total value of $908,480.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 19,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,384,778.72. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:AJG opened at $201.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.56, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $211.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.94. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $190.75 and a 52-week high of $351.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.04. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 10.76%.The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.67 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.26 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 45.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $283.00 to $280.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Mizuho dropped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $260.00 to $259.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $273.00 to $266.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $280.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $264.00.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, the company has grown from a regional broker into an international professional services organization that arranges insurance, provides consulting and designs risk-transfer solutions for commercial, industrial, public sector and individual clients.

The company’s core activities include property and casualty insurance brokerage, employee benefits consulting and administration, and a range of risk management services.