Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Lowers Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd reduced its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 84.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,797 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.5% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $840,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.1% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.3% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $908,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.0% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Up 3.2%

AJG stock opened at $225.05 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a one year low of $195.00 and a one year high of $351.23. The firm has a market cap of $57.86 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $243.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $266.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 11.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. This is a boost from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 42.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AJG shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $285.00 to $283.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $283.00 to $280.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $311.00 to $298.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Evercore decreased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $353.00 to $334.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $250.00 to $247.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $282.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.11, for a total value of $1,032,440.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 17,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,472,271.97. This represents a 18.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 15,850 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $4,041,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 79,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,284,995. This trade represents a 16.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 24,850 shares of company stock worth $6,364,440 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.