Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. $AJG Shares Sold by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC lessened its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 533,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,404 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $138,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AJG. Bayban purchased a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the fourth quarter worth $518,000. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at $64,000. MidFirst Bank purchased a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in the 4th quarter worth $313,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on AJG shares. Citigroup upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $280.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $265.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $262.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $264.12.

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

In other news, CAO Richard C. Cary sold 3,000 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $618,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,850,714. The trade was a 5.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of AJG stock opened at $214.45 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52-week low of $190.75 and a 52-week high of $327.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $55.09 billion, a PE ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $210.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.89.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 10.76%.Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.67 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 13.24 EPS for the current year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.31%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

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.