Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) Price Target to $371.00

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) had its target price trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $372.00 to $371.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on AJG. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $352.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $319.29.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE AJG opened at $312.96 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $331.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $317.09. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12 month low of $251.42 and a 12 month high of $351.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.00 and a beta of 0.74.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.63%.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In related news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total value of $2,505,260.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 90,020 shares in the company, valued at $30,029,771.80. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.13, for a total transaction of $4,645,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,109,256.33. This trade represents a 53.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,510 shares of company stock worth $11,033,341. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AJG. Hartford Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 15,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,381,000 after buying an additional 1,537 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 337.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 2,502 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 126.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,003,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $568,619,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,441 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Grand Managers LLC acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,096,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co engages in the provision of insurance brokerage, reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services. It operates through the following segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.