Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Decreases Position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. trimmed its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 95.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,958 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AJG. J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 209.1% during the second quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 650.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 40.6% during the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the second quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $289.00 to $275.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $272.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $344.00 to $282.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $328.00 to $311.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $330.00 to $277.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $290.50.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG stock opened at $253.13 on Monday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $236.34 and a 52-week high of $351.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $65.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.84 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a fifty day moving average of $253.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $278.43.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 13.58% and a return on equity of 11.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Christopher E. Mead sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.11, for a total value of $1,032,440.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 17,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,472,271.97. The trade was a 18.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Walter D. Bay sold 15,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $4,041,750.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 79,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,284,995. This represents a 16.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,100 shares of company stock worth $8,243,865. Insiders own 1.30% 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.