Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Sells 116 Shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors reduced its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 4.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 116 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors’ holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AJG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 38.3% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,372,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,997,767,000 after buying an additional 4,815,007 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,411,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,499,185,000 after buying an additional 739,130 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at about $240,665,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3,142.2% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $221,268,000 after purchasing an additional 621,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $136,565,000. 85.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, CFO Douglas K. Howell sold 8,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.54, for a total transaction of $2,396,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,186,742.58. The trade was a 7.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 12,855 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.60, for a total transaction of $3,825,648.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 85,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,569,792. This trade represents a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,855 shares of company stock valued at $8,916,928. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AJG. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $361.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $322.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $346.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.40.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

AJG opened at $249.83 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 12-month low of $242.75 and a 12-month high of $351.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.06 billion, a PE ratio of 35.49 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $294.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $310.23.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 14.54%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s payout ratio is 36.93%.

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.