Segment Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Segment Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 43,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $12,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,462,392,000 after acquiring an additional 580,134 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,513,199,000 after purchasing an additional 47,656 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,490,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,541,044,000 after purchasing an additional 79,429 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $899,538,000 after buying an additional 383,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,640,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,511,000 after buying an additional 42,841 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AJG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $313.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $292.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.07.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Down 0.2 %

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $295.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $291.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $287.02. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $227.08 and a twelve month high of $316.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.23 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.26. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.70, for a total value of $1,992,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,963 shares in the company, valued at $21,626,666.10. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.00, for a total transaction of $803,600.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,211,438. This represents a 16.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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 business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.