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 cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $372.00 to $371.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 16.39% from the company’s current price.

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

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AJG traded down $10.01 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $318.76. The company had a trading volume of 1,051,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,335,783. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $332.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $317.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.90 and a beta of 0.74. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $251.42 and a twelve month high of $351.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

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

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.04, for a total value of $342,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 45,323 shares in the company, valued at $15,502,278.92. The trade was a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 7,510 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.59, for a total value of $2,505,260.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 90,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,029,771.80. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,510 shares of company stock worth $11,033,341. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the first quarter valued at $25,000. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 81.7% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

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.